Carbon Neutral Estate

What prompted the decision to make the estate carbon neutral and what were the biggest surprises you had to manage as you made the shifts required?

It was mostly the influence of my father who has never liked to waste anything, coupled with his greater understanding of the impact the wine industry has on the land. We wanted to take responsibility for our actions as a business. Since June 2006 we have been offsetting our carbon emissions by various greening programmes in the local community. If you (a company) can just buy your carbon offset credits but don’t actively look at ways to reduce your use of resources and look at energy saving as a whole, then we feel you’re missing the point.

Our greening programmes have also been coupled with a significant reduction of our fuel and electricity use. . We didn’t realise to what extent they contributed to the output, making up almost 80% of the farm’s total emissions. As a family we wanted to reverse as much of the impact as possible. That said, becoming carbon neutral is only part of the bigger picture, reduction of emissions through energy efficiency and carbon management is the real key.

What has been the impact of this decision on other wine makers in the region? Do you think your move to being carbon neutral will have a positive influence on the wine industry as a whole?

The curiosity of other wine farmers in the region has not been huge but we are always willing to engage with more people as they seek advice on the best way to approach this. What is the carbon footprint of a single bottle of wine?

In a diversified agricultural offering such as we have at Backsberg, it is very difficult to pin point that answer exactly. We’re currently working on a more exact measurement, as we believe emissions labelling of products is very likely in the future, especially for export markets.

Are there any plans to grow organic vines or invest in other crops to weather climate change?

Some of the farm is certified organic and we genuinely believe that farming as organically as possible is the way to go from a wine quality perspective. That being said, one of the major issues in our area is weed control in the vineyards and controlling the weeds through organic means is a real challenge. Also, what do you do if the mielie bug gets into your vineyard, risking the entire crop? When people think of sustainable farming, they sometimes only think of the environment. But for a programme to work in the longterm, you have to consider the economic and social factors as well. We try to consider all of these factors in our farming practices.

Backsberg has invested in vineyard sites around the Western Cape to diversify our land holding with climate change in mind. Sometimes people make wine from organic grapes, but they exclude what happens in, for example, the cellar. Or they’ll bottle the wine in heavyweight bottles. Organic farming is very valuable, but we believe it needs to be combined with a more holistic perspective of how the farm does business.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the wine industry in the next five years either from an environmental or social perspective?

Our view is that climate change is a reality. The biggest challenge then would be the mind shift in realising that ‘business as usual’ is no longer viable.

www.backsberg.co.za