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Eddie Redelinghuys - Climate action

Eddie Redelinghuys and his team grow green, red and black organic grapes in Paarl, near the city of Cape Town. Besides growing grapes, they also produce compost under the name Reliance Compost. Eddie and his family have been growing grapes in this region for more than a hundred years. Back in the 90s, the family started to realize that chemical pesticides couldn’t resolve the problems they had with plagues and diseases, and so they started to think about other options, which led to organic farming practices.

RELIANCE – SOUTH AFRICA

According to Eddie, some of the biggest environmental problems South Africa has to face, are the lack of fertile land, soil degradation, and pollution of its rivers and groundwater. One of the main factors causing these problems is the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pest and disease control agents. Eddie explains: ‘‘As a country we need to move away from our dependence on chemicals and move much more towards a natural manner of feeding the soil and subsequently our crops. The solution is high quality organic compost. Our garden refuse is collected monthly on 10 conveniently placed drop-off facilities and landfills around the City of Cape Town. Our green waste is not only the main input for out compost but by using it we are helping to solve a serious environmental issue. We have kept over 10,000,000 m3 of green garden refuse out of already overcrowded landfills since contracting with the city more than a decade ago. This resulted in reducing over 500 000 tons of carbon dioxide gas escaping into the atmosphere, thus mitigating the impacts caused by climate change”. Eddie proudly adds that their composting technology has been approved by Credible Carbon as a greenhouse gas emission reduction method.

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soil

Organic farming begins with good soil. Healthy soil provides a healthy food web for the crop, which is vital for growing sturdy plants that are resistant to pest and diseases. To build up the disease resistance of our vineyards, we obviously started with the soils. The most important step was obtaining large quantities of good quality compost. The problem was however, that we were not able to source the right quality compost so we decided to start producing compost ourselves. Today, we have a large, modern compost facility and are producing for many customers throughout South Africa. For more information please visit our compost company website www.reliance.co.za

True Cost of Food grapes*

Conventional cost: € 309
Organic benefit: € 456
=> Organic benefit for society: € 765

* Cost comparison per hectare per year

biodiversity

It is a general principle of organic farming that every living organism should be held in high regard: from the tiniest micro-organism living in the soil to the mightiest tree towering above it. For this reason, every link in the organic food supply chain is geared towards maintaining and, wherever possible, increasing the diversity of plants and animals. We encourage natural predators to help us fight the unwanted pests. To attract them to our vineyards we ensure there is always a good, divers cover crop below the grapes where these predators feel at home. Furthermore, when we build dams, we do not just dig a big hole in the ground but we create islands. The reason for this rather inefficient construction is that we want to create a safe habitat for ducks and other water fowl free from their natural, non swimming, predators.

Between the grapes, we use a mixture of legumes and grasses as a cover crop. Conventional growers often bare the ground, calling it "clean". But a green cover has so many advantages! In the first place, it suppresses weeds, which also reduces plagues and diseases. The roots of the grain improve soil structure and the lupine roots bring nitrogen into the soil, so you need less manure. It also prevents erosion and wash-out. And when the grain grows, birds feed on it. They prefer grain, so they stay away from the fruit.

True Cost of Food grapes

Not yet available

individual

Grapes are one of the "dirty dozen" of (conventional) fruits most contaminated with pesticides. Every year 20.000 to 340.000 farmworkers die of pesticide poisoning and 1 to 5 million farmworkers get sick from it. In organic cultivation no chemical-synthetic pesticides are used and significantly less pesticide residues are found on organic products in the store. Research indicates (Fantke & Jolliet, 2016) that this also has a health effect for consumers. In short, we can say with confidence that organic fruits and vegetables, on the average, are healthier. And that also goes for our organic grapes.

True Cost of Food grapes*

Conventional cost: € 1.269
Organic cost: € 82
=> Organic benefit for society: € 1.187

* Cost comparison per hectare per year

society

As in most parts of the world, sport is very important for us and our workers. Since we believe everyone has the right to participate in such activities, we actively sponsor children in this regard. Furthermore we develop sports fields. We also financially support local schools and churches in this area. Apart from focusing on our own business we believe strongly in further developing organic agriculture in this region. Consequently we support and help (previously disadvantaged individuals) to start organic farming and market their produce.

I believe that organic production cannot exclude the people involved in it. The whole workforce should share in the benefits of the farming cooperation. Sustainable agriculture should also result in a sustainable enterprise. Such an enterprise is never built around one individual but always around the collective group. Furthermore our commitment to reduce the environmental impact can be clearly seen in the community-building projects, social responsibility programs and mission to grow a greener generation. For example our compost business Reliance supplies compost to various schools in disadvantaged communities for educational purposes & projects, such as planting trees and vegetable gardens. Trees are also planted at various schools to provide shade for playgrounds and overall beautifying the area.

We adhere to the health and safety regulations as stipulated by the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations of South Africa. Therefore minimizing the risk to health and injury of workers.

True Cost of Food grapes

Not yet available

climate

Located in this beautiful, sunny part of the world, grape cultivation benefits from nature’s solar energy! Organic farming indirectly also saves energy since we are not using all kinds of energy draining pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Finally, all our grapes are transported to Europe by ship and not by plane.

The main input material for producing Reliance's compost is municipal green waste, as well as alien vegetation that presents an environmental threat in the Western Cape. Reliance has kept over 10,000,000 m3 of green garden refuse out of already overcrowded landfills since contracting with the city more than a decade ago. This resulted in reducing over 500 000 tons of carbon dioxide gas escaping into the atmosphere, thus mitigating the impacts caused by climate change.

Reliance is the only South African composting company to be registered with the United Nations. Our composting technology has been approved as a Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction method according to the guidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and has generated in excess of 450 000 tons CO2 (carbon credits). These are used making other businesses carbon neutral. Reliance composting technology has been approved by Credible Carbon as a greenhouse gas emission reduction method. Verifications are performed in accordance with the ISO 14064-3 (International Organization for Standardization). Our clients are individuals, landscapers, nurseries, municipalities, schools, agriculture, food schemes and Non-Profit Organisations. We also offer consultation services to businesses about composting, compost facilities, equipment for composting and design of production facilities. Quality is a factor which we don't neglect and we have our products extensively tested by independent laboratories.

True Cost of Food grapes*

Conventional cost: € 2.290
Organic cost: € 1.248
=> Organic benefit for society: € 1.042

* Cost comparison per hectare per year

water

In this part of South Africa we get the most rain between May and August. For the rest of the year we need to irrigate our crops carefully and we do this with drip irrigation. This is not only an excellent water saving technique but is also good for the plants and therefore for the production as well. The water we use comes from 6 storage dams (full of life), the local river and some of our wells.

True Cost of Food grapes*

Conventional cost: € 766
Organic cost: € 527
=> Organic benefit for society: € 239

* Cost comparison per hectare per year

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