Rethinking conventional agriculture : the politics and practices of 'environmentally-friendly' production in the South African wine industry

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: When the South African wine industry re-entered the global wine markets in the early 1990's, it faced a number of profound challenges. The most significant of these has beento gain a foothold in the international markets where both New and Old World wineproducers fiercely compete for the consumer's purse. In the effort to bolster itscompetitiveness and in response to a growing global trend towards 'environmentally-friendly'food production the industry launched the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW)scheme in 1998.This voluntary regulatory system provides guidelines for best agriculturalpractices and a producer must pass either the audit or the annual self-evaluationquestionnaire in order to comply. A new Integrity & Sustainability seal has beenintroduced which advertises this compliance on each bottle of wine. This home-grownregulatory scheme is the first and only of its kind in the world and is now accepted bymarkets globally.The Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI) is a collaboration between the wine industryand conservationists which aims to protect endangered species of the Cape FloralKingdom, promote sustainable practices and rehabilitate indigenous flora and fauna onwine farms. Wines of South Africa (WOSA) is a marketing organisation which promotesthe interests of South African wines in international markets. WOSA's marketing slogan,'Variety is in Our Nature' seeks to create a 'common language' which promotes theenvironmental aspects of South African wine production and a platform from whichproducers can establish their own marketing strategies.On the surface it would appear that the industry stands united behind this innovativeinitiative. But is this really the case? This thesis explores the views and attitudes of keyindustry informants as well as the responses of 14 different cellars from across theWestern Cape. Each respondent was questioned on his/her notion of 'environmentallyfriendly',the cellar's environmental practices, as well as their views IPW, BWI andWOSA's efforts of promoting the South African wine industry's new environmentalidentity. This study has found that the 'greening' of the South African wine industryenjoys broad support and compliance at both industry and cellar level. However, theresults also show that there is serious criticism against the three-pronged 'project' which,if not addressed, could damage the integrity and credibility of industry's new 'image'and undo its innovative edge.At the theoretical level, the study challenges aspects of both Global Value Chain Theoryand Conventionalisation Theory. Regarding the former, the 'home-grown' way in whichthe industry has created its own 'environmentally-friendly' regulating scheme challengesthe role lead firms take in international value chains. Regarding the latter, because IPWworks within conventional agricultural practices and is far more cost effective thaninternational 'environmentally-friendly' regulations, both large and small farmers canimplement IPW regulations with the same effectiveness.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University