Challenges that Primary Producers Face

Some of the challenges include (Goldblatt 2012):

• Rising input costs and dependence on external factors that the farmer cannot control, such as the oil price and the exchange rate.
• Finite natural resources (looming water scarcity, increasing loss of soil).
• Lack of subsidies and extension support for established commercial farmers and for emerging/developing black farmers.
• Very little market predictability and non-tariff trade barriers in importing countries.
• Increasing competition from cheap, subsidised imports.
• Exposure to toxic chemicals.
• High murder rate and increasing tenure insecurity.
• Predicted negative long-term changes in the climate.
• The decline in the health and functioning of our supporting and underpinning natural systems.