Total income earned in the agriculture and related services industry was R417,1 billion in 2021 compared with R372,8 billion in 2020. This reflects an increase of 11,9% between 2020 and 2021.

In 2021, ‘animals and animal products’ generated the largest sales (R159,3 billion), followed by ‘horticultural crops and products’ (R110,4 billion) and ‘field crops’ (R81,4 billion). The highest percentage increases were recorded for income earned from the sale of ‘field crops’ (24,2%) and ‘horticultural crops and products’ (19,0%).

Large enterprises contributed 67,7% or R282,3 billion of the total income in 2021, followed by small enterprises with a contribution of 18,1% or R75,4 billion. Medium and micro enterprises each contributed 7,1%.

In 2021, the 100 largest enterprises (in terms of total income) in the agriculture and related services industry contributed 23,4% of total income.

Total expenditure incurred by the farming sector in 2021 was R389,3 billion compared with R353,4 billion in 2020 (an increase of 10,2%). The highest contributor to total expenditure was ‘purchases’ (52,9% of the total), followed by ‘salaries and wages’ (12,9%), ‘repairs and maintenance’ (4,7%) and ‘depreciation’ (4,4%).

The total capital expenditure on new assets in the agriculture and related services industry in 2021 amounted to R32,1 billion compared with R27,0 billion in 2020, an increase of 18,8%. ‘Motor vehicles, plant, machinery, tractors and other transport’ reported the largest increase, namely R5,6 billion (from R14,1 billion to R19,7 billion).

The total number of persons employed in the agriculture and related services industry as at the end of June 2021 was 801 503 compared with 780 057 in June 2020, an increase of 2,7%.