The South Australian Government has committed $260,000 to help Riverland grape growers address the oversupply of red wine grapes.
Riverland’s CCW Co-Operative, Australia’s largest member owned wine grape co-operative, will use the grant to help winegrape growers.
The co-operative will help SA grape growers to diversify with alternative crops and to improve access to information on alternative crops and revenue streams.
Clare Scriven said recovery measures such as this need to be implemented at both a state and national level to assist with a sustainable supply and demand level.
“We are all aware of the current pressures and issues facing wine grape growers and winemakers in the Riverland and across South Australia due to the current over supply of red wine grapes,” said Scriven.
“The diversification by some growers away from wine to other crops is a key element to this, especially in the Riverland, which is why we are making this investment now.”
Yesterday, at the National Agriculture Ministers Meeting in Brisbane, ministers noted the progress of the Viticulture and Wine Sector Working Group to date.
This included the commissioning of a report from the University of Adelaide’s Wine Economics Research Centre on how to drive a sustainable supply-demand balance into the future.
The Viticulture and Wine Sector Working Group was established in March to consider a national approach to addressing issues faced by the wine and viticulture sector and support future balance and profitability for the industry.
The report titled The current wine crisis: Ways forward in Australia’s wine regions has now been delivered to Agriculture Ministers and released publicly to assist industry in future planning.
In his report, Professor Kym Anderson highlights possible options for reducing the oversupply and moving towards a more sustainable future.
Professor Anderson highlights the important role industry has in leading the solutions to the oversupply situation, including better understanding consumer preferences when looking for markets to sell their product.
While the challenges facing the industry are Australia-wide, the South Australian wine industry has been heavily impacted as it produces half of all Australian wine and 80 per cent of premium wine.
