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Plaas Media attended the 2025 Vinpro Nedbank Producer Day at Goudini Spa near Rawsonville in the Western Cape. The theme of the day was “Navigating climate chaos – shaping the vineyards of the future”.
In his opening speech, Anton Smuts, chairperson of Vinpro, said the event meets the dynamic needs of the wine grape producers. The South African wine industry faces a lot of challenges. “Despite the challenges, the industry shows resilience and innovation in our thinking.” Smuts pointed out the need for good training. “Training must inspire individuals to think beyond traditional practices, to challenge norms and to embrace change as an opportunity. We need to change our thinking and mindset, even if it’s hard. We need to change our thinking from a basic survival mindset to a sustainable growth mindset with adaptive, innovative thinking”, Smuts said.
Forces in the wine industry
Conrad Schutte, chief executive officer at Vinpro, said climate change is having a real effect on the South African wine industry with lower yields, revenues and profits. There are various factors and forces that have an impact on the South African wine industry and cause instability in the local environment. These factors are a loss of biodiversity, fake news, aged politicians, health events (the industry needs at least four years to recover from Covid), biotechnology risk, conflicts, global trade regime, superpower rivalry (such as interaction between the US and China), climate change, extreme weather and technology. He expressed concern about the effect that the United States’ new president, Donald Trump, could have on the South African wine industry and the uncertainty that comes with it. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is due to be revised in 2025 and it could have an impact on wine exports to America. Currently, the local industry exports 3,8% of its wine to America.
Conrad Schutte, chief executive officer of Vinpro.
What sets top producers apart
Technology that wine producers use to set them apart from the rest of the pack, are pruning methods, canopy management practices, fertilisation and irrigation, aligning practices with wine goal, alternative trellis systems, uprooting non-profitable blocks, strategic planting of new vineyards, total net change per region, timing of action, and spending better,” Schutte said. Growers must ensure that labour is used effectively, because labour accounts for 38% of the vineyard’s input costs. Labour needs to understand exactly why they prune, because it has a huge effect on the yield. With pruning systems such as mechanical pruning or battery-powered pruning shears, workers can trim double the number of vines per day.
He also pointed out that producers who understand their vineyards better and know what wine goal the vineyard’s grapes are aiming towards, do better than the average producer. “Similarly, producers who are looking at alternative trellis systems, such as open-hanging systems, can save a 30% on labour, while the wine quality is the same or better than the old systems”, Schutte said.
Economy’s growth too low
Isaac Matshego, an economist at the Nedbank Group, said South Africa’s economy grew by only 0,7% in 2024. This year growth of 1,4% is expected and next year 1,8%. “We still need to grow our economy at close to 3% minimum to ensure that we have an improving socio-economic situation addressing the high level of unemployment.”
“Today we have a much better economy environment than two years or 12 months ago. We are making progress and moving in the right direction. The world economy will remain favourable for the South African economy”, Matshego said. – Hugo Lochner, Plaas Media.
