New Spier wine collection highlights the strength of diversity

The recent launch of the Spier Wine Farm Farmer Angus collection also featured insightful talks on the benefits of regenerative farming and community resilience, writes Glenneis Kriel.

- Glenneis Kriel

Spier Wine Farm recently unveiled its flagship organic wine range, Farmer Angus, on the farm in Stellenbosch. While the launch and excellent wines were sufficient cause for celebration, the farm also invited various speakers to talk about the benefits of regenerative farming and the way in which diversity, which is a major component of regeneration, was increasing the resilience of communities.

Chris Burgess, editor of Landbouweekblad, recounted how farmers from Hluhluwe in KwaZuluNatal had a relationship, often stretching back generations, with communal farmers from the neighbouring Zululand. During the drought of 2016, the commercial farmers strengthened this relationship by supplying the communal farmers with graze, feed and helping with the sinking of boreholes.

In 2020, the tribal leaders heard that Hluhluwe would be targeted with riots, after which they and the commercial farmers decided it would be better for black members of the community, rather than white commercial farmers, to protect the town’s entrances against rioters. This strategy, according to Burgess, has helped the region escape various riot attempts.