A wine farmer in the Western Cape has written an open letter with a simple request: Save our lives, the economy and the country by just letting us do what we love to do in this beautiful country.
Western Cape, South Africa (27 January 2021) – A South African wine farmer has written an emotional open letter to the President begging him to allow farmers to do what they do best!
The letter was written in South Africa’s third lockdown alcohol ban now having lasted a month with no end date in sight. The country’s alcohol industry – and associated livelihoods across the supply chain – have already suffered from more than 100 days of alcohol bans in the 300+ day lockdown and many businesses are on the brink of closing… if they have not done so already.
JN Coetzee, a farmer in the Western Cape, has written an open letter with a simple request: Save our lives, the economy and the country by just letting us do what we love to do in this beautiful country.
Read it below:
Dear Mr President,
Harvest season is here in the Winelands. It’s a time of year on the agricultural calendar that is always filled with a lot of hype and excitement. Through the past 12 months cover crop was planted, vineyards fertilized and watered when needed, pruned and canopy management was done.
Since my school days, I dreamt of this job, went to study and paid off my study loan diligently.
Never in my wildest dreams did I foresaw that an agricultural industry I so love and adore be brought to its knees.
Mr President, I know you have a keen passion for farming and agriculture. You pride yourself in your Ankole Longhorn herds. You understand farming. You have visited our community, sat with Oom Beyer’s and listened to us.
Agricultural is at the heart of this beautiful land of ours. Grapes, sugar cane, hops, grain or maize, are all used in the alcohol industry we hold dear to produce wine, gin, beer, whiskey, brandy and many more.
A farmer navigates many worries brought on by mother nature in the form of disease, pests, floods, drought, hail, wind or fire. Government regulations should not be one of those worries.
When our hospitality friends close shop, it has a knock-on effect. Their staff, families, suppliers and farmers.
Mr President, this morning I want to speak to the enthusiastic Farmer in you.
At breakfast, lunch or dinner today, have a look at your plate with ingredients from farmers be it in the pig, chicken, beef, fruit or vegetable communities. Maybe there’s a glass of red next to it (Pinotage I hope), it’s good for the heart I hear. Each ingredient on your plate and in the glass you see was lovingly nurtured and produced by a farmer.
Please, Mr President, allow us to do what we love in this beautiful country of ours.
Kind Regards,
JN Coetzee