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01st September 2026

Precision transport to maximise efficiency

South Africa's forestry industry runs on efficiency, and every load that moves from plantation to mill must cross difficult terrain to get there. Harvesting methods keep improving, but transport remains one of the sector's biggest levers for profitability, safety and sustainability, and one of the hardest to get right without accurate data at the point of loading.

26th August 2026

Post-fire recovery is about more than mopping up

Wildfires don’t begin with dramatic flames racing across the landscape. They start quietly, with a single spark or ember that ignites dry grass, overgrown vegetation, and accumulated fuel, waiting for the right conditions.

22nd August 2026

PVoC programme paused

Greg Boulle, CEO of the South African Furniture Initiative (SAFI), says local furniture and mattress manufacturers have been closely tracking the regulatory framework

22nd August 2026

White River Saw Mills wins the 2026 Sawmill Improvement Award

Congratulations to White River Saw Mills on participating in the Crickmay & Associates Intermill Comparison (IMC) and on attaining the Sawmill Improvement Award for the second time

18th August 2026

Brandon wins the 2026 Rubio Monocoat Makers Build-off

Brandon Scheepers from Made. Dot won the 2026 Rubio Monocoat Makers Build-off with his twin pedestals. Greg Stock of Stock

14th August 2026

Sappi’s ESD programme grows businesses

Pinky Mooko, director of Baleti Estate in Mpumalanga, combines forestry with avocado, macadamia, pecan and honey production, while creating permanent and seasonal employment opportunities within the local community.

13th August 2026

South Africa’s bioeconomy represents opportunities for women

Every day, my role requires me to view our business through two very different lenses. On the one hand, I sit in boardrooms and speak with global investors who analyse our performance using balance sheets, ESG targets and the hard numbers of the circular bioeconomy.

12th August 2026

Reflections on the mentoring process

The women who hosted the 2026 webinar are all mentored by women in the She is Forestry SA (SIFSA) network. They had this to say about their experiences

11th August 2026

Mentorship helps women overcome career barriers and build confidence

This year’s She Is Forestry South Africa (SIFSA) Women’s Day webinar celebrated the second anniversary of its Mentor Me programme. The theme was the Power of Words.

11th August 2026

Sawmilling gives a former DRC auditor a new career

A successful career in finance wasn’t enough to keep auditor Julian Kakule in banking after he saw a Wood-Mizer sawmill in action.

05th August 2026

JP Landman says the FSA punches well above its weight

The jovial political economist JP Landman has never been shy about naming South Africa's problems plainly, and delegates at the Forestry South Africa (FSA) AGM in June were treated to an entertaining talk.

03rd August 2026

The real test of localisation is procurement, imports and enforcement

Localisation has become one of South Africa's favourite economic buzzwords. It appears in policy documents, industry master plans and conference speeches. Yet for many manufacturers, the reality on the factory floor tells a different story.

30th July 2026

SA’s forestry industry advised to focus on its successes

Forestry South Africa’s annual general meeting offers a glimpse into a rural industry that may be small in national agricultural terms, yet its resilience, ability to build relationships within and beyond its value chain, and depth of leadership make it highly influential in national policy and strategy.

27th July 2026

Logmech solves Mkhoba Forestry’s steep slopes quandary

Harvesting and transport specialist Mkhoba Forestry has invested in the proven TimberPro 725D levelling harvester and SP Maskiner 761LF head combination to address steep-slope cut-to-length operations in south-western KwaZulu-Natal.

25th July 2026

Pest Alert - Cyrtogeniusluteus

During surveys conducted in Mpumalanga in May 2025, aimed at investigating pine bark beetles, members of the TPCP team and Sappi detected an unknown bark beetle inhabiting galleries beneath the bark of harvested pine trees.

29th June 2026

WHY SERVICE SUPPORT IS A REAL DIFFERENTIATOR IN A COST-CONSTRAINED MARKET

In a market where every operating hour counts, downtime can quickly become one of the most expensive costs a business faces. Pieter Smuts, Managing Director of Husqvarna South Africa, explains why service support is emerging as a key differentiator for equipment buyers

22nd June 2026

Fort Cox celebrates the Class of 2025

The ceremony celebrated the graduates’ hard work and achievement, while highlighting the Institute’s continued commitment to developing skilled professionals for the agricultural and forestry sectors.

17th June 2026

New Forests launches global natural capital fund

Fund manager New Forests launched its Global Landscape Opportunities (GLO) strategy in June, the company’s first global natural capital offering for institutional investment across forestry, agriculture, and complementary markets, including carbon and biodiversity.

14th June 2026

STIHL’s BR Backpack Blowers are built for fire management

When you need to slow or stop the spread of fire, you need to remove the fuel. This is where professionals rely on the STIHL BR range of backpack blowers to clear combustible material and create effective fire breaks.

03rd June 2026

The Ponsse Buffalo Planter has landed, and Novelquip’s tech is driving it

Novelquip Forestry, a South African engineering company, and Ponsse, the Finnish manufacturer of forestry machines, launched their new mechanised planting technology, the Buffalo Planter, at Expo Minas Florestal in Brazil in May.

25th May 2026

World's first tree harvested by a drone in a real forest - AirForestry

AirForestry says its drone felled trees in a working production forest and, separately, completed an end-to-end harvest without human control — each a first for the airborne thinning method it has built since 2020.

22nd May 2026

300,000 hectares and counting: How South Africa's forestry sector is quietly preserving biodiversity

Biodiversity stewardship must extend beyond the boundaries of protected areas,” says Dr Ronald Heath, FSA’s Director of Research and Protection. “Conservation has to happen across entire landscapes, where productive land uses and natural ecosystems coexist and support one another.

06th May 2026

Furniture Design Competition winners announced

The Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Alexandra Abrahams, presented the keynote address and announced the winners of the prestigious annual Furniture Design Competition. The Student category was won by Elani Bothman of Potchefstroom Academy, Northwest Province and the Established Manufacturer category by Leago Lekganyane of Mtheza Legacy Holdings Centurion, Gauteng.

06th May 2026

NCT’S RECOVERY: Bell water tankers inform NCT’s new fire station capacity

Throughout history, fires have caused widespread devastation and loss. In late September 2023, the NCT Forestry Co-operative Limited (NCT) mill in Richards Bay experienced this firsthand when strong winds, low humidity, and high temperatures combined to create ideal conditions for a fire that raged for more than ten days.

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Timber Stakeholders to Gather in Pretoria

Willie Stander, CEO of White River Saw Mills: “Our people are our edge”

TruckWeight’s LoRa and cloud-based system now in SA