Episode 24 - Wine

The wine market isn’t as concentrated as the beer market. The largest wine producer in the world, E&J Gallo, only has 2.7% of global production. Wine is made in at least fifty countries worldwide. The top five wine exporting countries are France (30% of wine exports), Italy (20%), Spain (9%), Australia (6%), and Chile (5%). All Canadian wine is produced by “small wineries” (wineries that sold less than 200,000 litres of wine)

Human Rights and the Wine Industry

South African Wine and Apartheid

A 2011 Human Rights Watch (HRW) Report, “Ripe with Abuse”, drew attention to human rights condition at South African wineries. A documentary called Bitter Grapes also examined this issue. South Africa’s legacy of apartheid has “continued to haunt the wine sector”.

Farm workers often live in substandard on-farm housing. In one case documented by HRW, a family was living in a converted pig stall with no electricity and water. The structure didn’t even provide shelter from weather. They had been living there for ten years. On-farm housing puts workers in really precarious positions, because when they are fired they lose not only their income but also their home. An estimated 930,000 workers were evicted from housing South African farms between 1994 and 2004. Although there are legal requirements around evicting farm workers, land owners frequently break those rules.

The work is usually seasonal and the pay is very low, especially for female farmworkers. At its extreme, some vineyards in South Africa were paying workers in alcohol rather than wages. Vineyard owners have been documented paying under South Africa’s minimum wages.

Working conditions are generally poor on these farms. Workers often don’t receive contracts or copies of their contracts. Part of the problem is the lack of labour inspectors: there are just over 100 labour inspectors for 6,000 farms and workplaces in the Western Cape. And labour inspectors give farms prior notice when they do inspect.

Farm workers face obstacles in unionizing, especially the fear of discrimination or being fired. For that reason, union density in the Western Cape agricultural sector is 3%, compared with 30% in South Africa’s formal sector as a whole. 2012 South Africa’s Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association launched an ethical seal for unfair labour practices.

Human Rights and Wine Elsewhere 

Although South Africa is most famous for human rights abuses on vineyards, it would be a mistake to assume that it is the only place where these problems persist. Agricultural work is among the most exploited industries.

Fairtrade Wine

One option if workers’ rights are a concern for you is to go for Fairtrade wine, if you’re buying from somewhere like South Africa, where labour protections might not be very strong. If you are looking for wine from South Africa, Argentina, Chile, or Lebanon, there are Fairtrade options available. In Canada, there are at least four wine brands that you can get with the Fairtrade seal. The United Kingdom appears to have a wider range of Fairtrade wine available.

Migrant Labour and Wineries

Canadian wineries rely on migrant labour (seasonal agricultural workers) to do a lot of the work on grape farms. That is common for wine produced in other wealthy countries.

So, the story of labour on Canadian wineries is in a very real sense the story of how we treat seasonal agricultural workers. On that metric, you might want to check out wine from Saskatchewan: it is the province that has done the best job of protecting the human rights of temporary foreign workers, according to a 2018 report by the Canadian Council for Refugees. TFWs there have access to healthcare with no waiting period – which isn’t the case for many provinces – and does a good job of legislating and enforcing worker protections. The federal government and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador fared the worst on this scorecard, with a C or D rating in every category except one (access to permanent residence was a B for Newfoundland, while enforcement of rules and regulations was a B for the federal government). Of the four major wine-producing provinces – Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Nova Scotia – British Columbia has the best protections according to the report (although it wasn’t great either, and there are barriers to accessing healthcare for seasonal agricultural workers). 

COVID-19 and Grape Farms

Farm owners are receiving $1,500 per worker to cover the costs of the required two-week quarantine. In BC, fruit farms rely heavily on backpackers to work during the harvest. They aren’t part of the temporary workers’ program, and it’s expected that this labour source won’t be available. The hope is to train a domestic workforce for the June harvest.

Environment and Wine

Pesticide Use on Vineyards

Grapes are disease- and pest-prone crops, so conventional grape farming uses large quantities of pesticides. Vineyards represent 3% of agricultural land in France, but 20% of phytosanitary volumes and 80% of fungicide use.

Some of those pesticides, including glyphosphate, have been identified as toxic or otherwise linked to adverse health consequences. In France, Valérie Murat launched a lawsuit in 2015 on behalf of her father, James-Bernard Murat, a vine grower who died from cancer. His death was officially recognized as being linked to his profession by the agricultural mutual society (MSA, la Mutuelle sociale agricole). Murat had sprayed three different pesticides containing the chemical sodium ar nite, which is now banned as a cancer-causing poison. Valérie wants his death recognized as manslaughter.

23 schoolchildren were hospitalized in Bordeaux in 2014 after a nearby vineyard sprayed a fungicide.Public attention to the issue of pesticide use in France has prompted some government actions. Glyphosphate is set to be banned by 2021. And the government is set to create no-spray zones to separate sprayed crops from people living and working nearby. One problem is that some winegrowers compensate for pesticide use with mechanization, which increases the carbon footprint of the operation.

Organic Wine

One option is to buy organic-certified wine. Organic agriculture doesn’t use pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Organic production doesn’t guarantee that an operation is environmentally-friendly on all metrics. For instance, organics rules may not govern water management. And it doesn’t take into account carbon footprints.

The LCBO is actually featuring organic wines right now.

Biodynamic Certification

Vineyards can also be certified as biodynamic farms. Biodynamic farming uses organic methods, but the standards are stricter and have things like biodiversity requirements. Biodynamic agriculture is similar to organic farming, but it also emphasizes some spiritual and mystical elements. It was created in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian “philosopher, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant.” The oldest biodynamic accreditation is the Demeter label. Kristen’s personal view: a little kooky, but mostly harmless.

Salmon-Safe Vineyard Certification

If you are buying wine from Oregon, Washington, or British Columbia, you can buy wine that is certified as Salmon-Safe. Basically, it means that the grapes were farmed according to standards that reduce vineyard run-off, protect water quality, and enhance biodiversity. As far as I could tell, it’s basically an add-on to organic or biodynamic certification

Climate Change

It has become an increasing point of discussion that organic =/= low-carbon. Some wineries are making commitments to reduce their carbon footprints. If climate change is the most important metric for you, you can look for wine with the Carbonzero certification.

Carbonzero is a carbon neutrality standard that requires emissions measurements and offsets (although carbon offsets are imperfect).

You can also get wine that is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. LEED is a certification operated by the Canada Green Building Council. It looks at things like water usage, energy efficiency, and sustainable site development. Stratus Vineyards was the first Canadian winery to obtain this standard, which it did in 2005.

Boxed versus Bottled

The most environmentally-friendly way to consume wine is to have it filled somewhere (en vrac method), but that option isn’t available most places – especially right now.

Bag-in-box wine is lighter than glass, so on carbon footprint you might be better off, especially if the wine has to travel a long way. Both glass and cardboard are recyclable, but the plastic bag and spout probably aren’t.

Tetra-paks have the carbon savings advantage of bag-in-box wine, but the drawback is that it’s made of a fusion of polyethylene, paper and aluminum. So you need special equipment to recycle them. As a result, the global recycling rate of Tetra Paks is 26%. And the recycling is actually downcycling, as compared with glass – where you pretty much get the same output from recycling.

Animal Welfare

We covered this in the vegetarianism episode, but you can go to Barnivore to find vegan alcohol options, including wine. Again, many wines aren’t vegan because they are clarified using fining agents that are made of casein (milk protein), albumin (egg whites), gelatine (animal protein), or isinglass (fish bladder protein). Fining agents can be vegan though, for instance activated charcoal and bentonite (clay). Many organic wines aren’t vegan, but some are.

Major Brands and Ethical Consumer’s Wine Guide

Barefoot Wines, the biggest selling wine in the world, is made by E&J Gallo Winery, scored relatively well on Ethical Consumer’s company rating. They scored an 11.5 out of 20, which is the top of the “amber” category (out of green, amber, and red).

E&J Gallo doesn’t report on environmental performance, doesn’t independently verify, and doesn’t have targets for improvement. So Ethical Consumer gave it their worst rating for environmental reporting. E&J Gallo also got a worst rating for supply chain management. This is because “It was considered to have a reasonable approach to discrimination, and forced and child labour, but did not mention freedom of association, living wages, or working hours. The company was considered to have a poor supply chain policy.”

On the other hand, Ethical Consumer recommends avoiding Constellation Brands products.

Episode 06 - Beer

Beer is the fifth most consumed beverage in the world behind tea, carbonates, milk and coffee. Average global consumption is 23 litres/person per year.

Beer – what is in it and how is it made?

There are four main ingredients in beer: malt barley, hops, yeast, and water. Beer is derived from malted gains. Barley is the most usual grain, but wheat, rye, oats, and sorghum can also be used. Even in wheat beer the proportion of barley is generally over 50%. Malt provides the spectrum of colour to beer. Hops are made from the flower of the humulus lupulus plant, which is a species of flowering plant in the hemp family native to Europe, western Asia, and North America. They offset the sweetness of the malt barley. Yeast is the engine which creates beer through fermentation. Then, of course, you need water to brew beer.

To learn more, check out the steps of making beer here.

Major beer producers

The beer industry is an oligopoly with AB InBev and Heineken as the two top companies. AB InBev (Anheuser-Busch InBev) is the largest multinational beer company, with $55 billion USD in sales. It controls about 30% of the global beer market. AB InBev makes brands like Beck’s, Budweiser, Corona, Leffe, Stella Artois. Other major multinational beer companies include Heineken, Asahi Group, Kirin, Molson Coors, Carlsberg Group, and Thai Beverage.

You can find out whether your beer brand of choice is from one of these companies by going to https://isitbigbeer.com/ (although it is not comprehensive).

Beer and the Environment

Water usage

The brewing industry is one of the largest industrial users of water. 60-180 litres of water can be used to produce a litre of beer. This includes the entire life cycle of beer. One estimate suggests that the virtual water footprint of beer could be as high as 240L of water for 1L of beer. Within the brewery itself, a 5-to-1 ratio is common.

The main sources of water usage in beer production: upstream (producing and transporting raw materials, especially barley farming), operations (brewing and bottling), downstream (transporting and refrigerating the beer). More than three-quarters of the upstream environmental impact of beer is from (1) glass manufacturing, (2) barley production, and (3) malting. Big breweries are typically more water efficient than small brewers, generally speaking. However, some craft breweries are very water efficient.

Emissions

Emissions come from different stages of beer production. Brewery operations themselves are typically about 20% of overall emissions, but can be as little as 5% for environmentally-conscious breweries (according to Oxford Companion to Beer, Environmental Issues). The production of raw materials accounts for 47-63% of emissions. And packaging is 19-46%. The largest single impact in the beer supply chain is refrigeration at retail (25%).

Barley has a heavy environmental footprint. Using unmalted barley can reduce environmental footprint, as can using local organic barley.

Waste

The main sources of food waste from beer production are barley straw, malt waste, and spent grain.

Big or small: which is best?

Around half (46%) of the greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of brewing beer comes from indirect sources (barley agriculture, malted barley transportation, and bottle production). Generally speaking, large breweries are more efficient than small ones. The carbon footprint per litre of beer was more than double for craft breweries versus industrial production (in Italy).

Cans or bottles?

Bauxite is used to make aluminum, and it is often sourced from developing countries. Malaysia is now the top bauxite producer. Bauxite is typically strip-mined. And smelting aluminum is very energy-intensive. It is true that aluminum cans can be made of up to 70% recycled material (up to 40% according to the David Suzuki Foundation). Cans made with recycled materials can be more emissions efficient, as recycled aluminum uses only 3% of the energy required to produce virgin aluminum.

Glass bottles are made with silica (industrial sand and gravel), which is less energy intensive than making virgin aluminum. Glass bottles can contain approximately 30% recycled content. Manufacturing a 12-oz aluminum can is twice as energy-intensive as making a similarly-sized glass bottle.

However, aluminum cans are lighter, so they are less carbon-intensive to ship. Transporting a glass bottle emits up to 20% more GHG than a can if shipped cross-country. For this reason, the David Suzuki Foundation recommends that you use cans only if you are buying beer from far away.

Aluminum cans with plastic sleeves become an issue for recycling. These sleeves are often non-recyclable. It is also difficult to separate from the can, rendering it non-recyclable. So, the sleeves become a contaminant in the recycling stream, and can even lead to the can itself going to landfill. Craft breweries tend to use plastic sleeves because the minimum order for printing is usually pretty high.

Recycling glass is less efficient than recycling aluminum. However, glass bottles in Canada are often reused. Recovery rates are higher for glass bottles (97%, compared with 80%). In the US, this is different – cans are recycled more often than glass bottles.

In Canada, breweries can use “industry standard bottles” (IS-B). When they do, these bottled are cleaned and refilled an average of 15 times. The industry standard bottle program started by an agreement between Labatt and Molson in 1992. There were some early problems, but in 2001 the Standard Mould Bottle Agreement was struck. Signatories agreed to use only the IS-B for malt-based beverages sold/distributed in Canada in non-metal containers of less than 600ml. Around 50 Canadian breweries participating (including Molson Coors). Companies that sign on don’t have to pay provincial levies for non-refillables. The US has similar programs, but it is more prevalent in Canada. The emissions savings on washing/reusing a glass bottle versus melting and remoulding it is 92%.

So, what should you do? If you’re in Canada, buy beer in an industry standard bottle. If you’re in the US, buy an aluminum or steel can without a plastic cover. Either way, local is better. Try refillable kegs or growlers if your local brewery allows it.

Beer and Human Rights

We were not able to find much on beer and human rights, unfortunately. Maybe we will revisit this issue in a future episode. A few notes though. First, beer in aluminum cans also has the baggage of human rights abuses from bauxite production.

On labour practices in breweries, we looked a bit at unionization rates. All AB InBev beer made in the US is made by unionized workers. For other major producers, it’s a bit more mixed. You can find a list of union-made beer here. Craft breweries rarely employ unionized workers – in 2016 Gulf Island Brewery became BC’s first unionized craft brewery.

Kyla’s Notes

The colour changing gin she was drinking was Arbutus Blue Gin.
Vice published an article suggesting the higher the alcohol content, the higher the carbon footprint. Read more here!
Cider, the greenest alcohol?
While wine and beer are often not vegan (what? Why not, you ask? We talk about it more in our upcoming episode about Vegetarianism!), spirits are usually vegan unless honey or cream is used as an ingredient for flavouring.
The impact of wine on the environment appears to be ok! But this note is subject to change…
Some fun facts about different spirits!
Jobs in the alcohol industry, and revenue. And more fun revenue stats.
Alcohol’s death toll globally. And it’s health effects:
- From the WHO
- From Forbes