VITALARCH™

In mid-April, Dutch port authorities flagged several shipments of soybean meal arriving from Argentina. The reason? The meal contained traces of a genetically modified soybean variety called HB4 — a drought-tolerant crop approved in Argentina, Brazil, and the United States, but not in the European Union. Under EU rules, there’s no grey area: if an unauthorised GM trait is detected, the shipment is rejected. No exceptions, no tolerance thresholds. What happened next is a good

South Africa enters 2026 on one of its strongest agricultural footings in years. Encouraged by La Niñadriven rainfall, farmers expanded total summer crop plantings for the 2025/26 season by 13% relative to the prior season, to just over 4.9 million hectares. Maize plantings reached approximately 2.67 million hectares. National dam levels stood above 90% full by mid-December 2025, dramatically reducing irrigation pumping costs for water-intensive operations.