Laibach organic wine was one of the first wine producers in the Stellenbosch region and in South Africa to farm organically. The wine producer is well known for the Ladybird brand (see a marketing pamphlet of Laibach in Figure 6.13).
Figure 6.13: Marketing pamphlet of The Ladybird wine brand
The ladybird refers to the ladybird as a natural predator of the vine mealybug (Planococcus ficus), a major problem pest for wine farmers. Mealybugs feed on plant juices and sap, and secrete honeydew that is a growth medium for sooty mould fungus (Jonker, 2014). The ability to photosynthesise, especially in younger plants, may be affected negatively by the fungus and can lead to poor yield or the death of the vine. Premature leaf drop may happen as a result of the mealybug’s toxic saliva. Figure 6.14 shows the typical signs of mealybug infestation.
Figure 6.14: Evidence of vine mealybug
Mealybugs rapidly become resistant to pesticides. The application of broad-spectrum insecticides can lead to outbreaks as the insecticide would kill the predators and potentially allow the mealybug population to boom instead (Jonker, 2014).
Laibach was the first among its peers to make use of perminutus wasps and cryptoleamus bugs to control mealybug numbers. Its neighbours followed suit and, at the time of this study all Laibach’s neighbours made use of natural predators to control mealybugs. The cooperation is weak, and one could even question whether this should be seen as cooperation at all. As a respondent (Interviewee W16) in a different conservancy noted: “to go to church together is not coopetition”.
Yet there are definite signs that knowledge is transferred between farmers, either through the breeder of the insects or between farmers themselves:
Yes, it's a fairly loose cooperation, you know. What happens is that Braam Jonker, the guy who deliver the predator insects for us, says “but listen, at Koos this is happening, over there something else is happening.” and then I will see Koos at an Agricultural Society meeting or at the cooperative. It's not explicitly said “listen here, you do that block or you do that block or you do this block”. It is every guy doing his bit on his farm.
And he runs his farm in order to make economic sense for him. We all try, every guy is trying. You start with your worst affected spots and so you move out.
(Interviewee W17)
Interviewee W11 also confirmed that farmers often exchange knowledge about natural predators, but made it explicit that the cooperation is not at a conservancy level, but rather between farms:
It's one of those type of things that if I do it alone, it will not make a dent. If you are not doing it as a group, it does not help to do it on an isolated farm, as the populations are just too big. And now we are at a stage where the whole spot here all work together, that's us and Laibach and [wine farm X] and [wine farm Y] and [wine farm Z]. All of us in this area release these natural enemies, predators of mealybugs. It's been a few years now and it works. At this point there is very limited use of pesticide for mealybug.
(Interviewee W11)
6.7.2 Common benefit and privately captured common benefit
Exchanging knowledge (common knowledge becomes privately captured common knowledge) about the control of mealybug creates a common economic value for all the farmers by reducing the cost of controlling mealybug numbers.
Laibach is the only organically certified wine producer among the cooperating farms. Without the cooperation from their neighbours, Laibach would not be able to control mealybugs as effectively.
They [our neighbours] also no longer spray insecticides, or 90% of them [our neighbours] no longer use insecticides. Because we can control the mealie bug 100%
in an organic way. …if everyone uses the parasites, you understand, then there will be very few mealybugs. And if one guy sprays, you understand, he will kill all the predators. But like I said, everyone around me uses parasites. So it actually works very well.
6.7.3 Private benefit
Laibach has done exceptionally well on the strength of the Ladybird brand. In the words of the respondent:
Yes. Look, we are doing very well. Our Ladybird brand is doing very very well. We started in 2000 with it, and with only six acres at the time; we did not have much then.
But every year we converted more and more to organic, so in 2010 the whole farm became certified as organic. We were one of the first organic farms in Stellenbosch.
And when we started 5% of our production went into the Ladybird brand, and today it’s at 80%.
In 2015, Laibach’s 2014 Chardonnay was recognised as one of the top organic white wines in South Africa by the Nedbank Green Wine Awards (see Figure 6.15). Because Laibach is the only organically certified farm in the group of coopetitors, they are able to generate private economic benefits that non-organic farms do not have access to. This would include increase in brand value because of the Nedbank wine awards, and the potential increase in wine sales.
Figure 6.15: Laibach acknowledged by the Nedbank Green Wine Awards
6.7.4 Distance to consumer
In response to the question “How important is it for you to tell the client about the environmental activities that you do?”, the interviewee responded as follows:
No, it's important, you understand, because people know Ladybird is an organic product and they want to know why; why it is organic. But at least the guy can ask, you follow? And then; it is nice for the consumer then. It is interesting for him to hear about the ladybirds and the things that we do.
The quote above accentuates the importance of raising awareness of the result of the coopetition initiative, but not so much raising awareness of the details of the cooperation between competitors.
Thus, the case shows that the coopetition initiative and activities may not be marketed explicitly, but the results are marketed as part of an eco-branding strategy.
6.7.5 The coopetition value matrix for the Mealybug
The CVM of the mealybug initiative is somewhat different to the ones from previous case studies. It is the first case where a private benefit is generated by one partner because of exclusive access to a market – in this case the organic wine market. Farmers do not seem to be convinced that there is a cost saving, but most interviewees believe it will reduce costs in the future as the ecosystem builds up resilience.
Table 6.13: CVM for the Mealybug case study Value creation
Economic value Knowledge value Environmental value
Value appropriation Common benefit
6.8 ORGANIC FARMERS ASSOCIATION