Current crop conditions provide great confidence for yet another decent summer grain and oilseed harvest in South Africa, but rainfall in the next few weeks is crucial to ensuring a better agricultural harvest.

This past week, I drove from Pretoria to Edenville, a small farming town in the northern region of the Free State, for a Farmers' Day.

The drive provided yet another opportunity to assess crop conditions up close. I deliberately stayed away from the N1 highway and drove through Sasolburg and Heilbron to get a better view of the fields.

From what I could tell from a distance, the production conditions have been excellent - the crop fields remain green and the grazing veld is lush.

But we are now at a critical crop-growing stage where, in various regions, flowering or pollinating is starting. There is therefore a need for more moisture to improve yields' potential.

In conversations with farmers in Edenville - farmers from regions of the Free State - all talked of the great start to the summer season and agreed that conditions had been reasonably favourable on their farms.

At the same time, they almost all stressed the need for rain within the next two weeks to ensure the yield potential of their crops.

The heat stress in the past few days has increased a growing concern for summer crops.

Meanwhile, the grazing conditions remain favourable.

The Free...