South Africa’s fruit and wine industry is making major headway in addressing the challenges of climate change thanks to its proactive approach.
Following the launch of its Confronting Climate Change (CCC) initiative in 2008, the industry has been consistently gathering data through ongoing workshops and other submissions.
This has now been incorporated into benchmarks allowing growers and exporters not only to address climate change proactively but also enhance their competitive position and proactively protect market access.
According to Anél Blignaut of Blue North Sustainability, which manages the initiative, the benchmarks are specific to each region and each commodity.
“The commodities that are covered in the benchmarks are stone fruit, pome fruit, citrus, wine grapes and table grapes. There are benchmarks not only for the carbon footprints but also for the different inputs on a farm – for example fuel usage and electricity,” she explains.
“At the training workshops we teach participants how to use these benchmarks and to identify hotspots in their businesses where either improved efficiencies or new technology may have a positive effect in reducing their carbon footprint and potentially input costs.”
She says while this undoubtedly plays a major role in enhancing the sustainability of farms, packhouses, wineries and the industry as a whole, it also gives a competitive advantage.
“The South African fruit and wine industries are heavily dependent on supply to export markets for their economic viability. Globalised supply chains and production systems are being scrutinised because of their high-energy intensity and as significant contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. How the fruit and wine industries respond to this scrutiny directly impacts their long-term competitiveness,” she told FTW.
While there are a variety of “pushing” factors to complete a carbon footprint, the CCC initiative is focused on building a proactive, practical and detailed capacity to understand and effectively respond to the challenges and risk related to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
At present CCC has over 1500 registered users and about 700 business units with completed carbon footprints. A carbon calculator is freely available online for industry.
According to Blignaut a variety of organisations support the CCC including the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA), South African Apple and Pear Producers’ Association (SAAPPA) and South African Stone Fruit Producers’ Association (Saspa), Hortgro Science, Winetech, South African Table Grape Industry (Sati) and the WWF.
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Globalised supply chains and production systems are being scrutinised because of their high-energy intensity. – Anél Blignaut
