Drought conditions worsen Australian winegrape growers

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Farmers in Australia’s largest winegrape growing region have battled with years of financial losses, devastating frosts - and a global decline in demand. Now ongoing drought conditions are causing water prices to fluctuate, pushing growers to the brink of collapse. Many fears they won't survive another season and are calling for government support to help an industry already in crisis.

Transcript

00:00Wine grape grower Jim Giargis has painstakingly pruned his vines for decades but amid a blistering

00:10drought he's being forced to use more water to keep them alive. We used around about 30% more

00:17water than we normally have to use. It's a costly exercise. Water is bought and sold on a market

00:23similar to the stock exchange. Prices have surged from a historical average of $200 a

00:28megalitre to a high of around 350. In an industry where certain wine varieties haven't been selling

00:35growers are feeling the pinch. I mean at the moment we're losing you will lose tenfold if you grow it

00:42so there's some hard decisions have to be made by growers. Irrigation trusts supply water to vineyards.

00:48When growers can't pay their water bills they're forced to cut supply to avoid being penalised

00:54themselves. Eventually businesses like ours will have to make a decision on behalf of

00:59all of our members to reduce the risk around non-compliance. In Renmark grower Amanda Demas

01:06removed vines to diversify to better selling varieties. There's been no return for so many

01:12years now and I think this is the nail in the coffin. It's not only taking a financial toll.

01:18Growers are really struggling. Their mental health isn't good. Removing vines can cost

01:23up to $7,000 per hectare. Governments should subsidise growers that want to remove the vineyards

01:30and also help the people that want to actually exit the industry. But the state government says

01:38the industry needs to pave its own path forward. That sort of government intervention can have

01:43absolutely unintended consequences which could make it worse for growers rather than better.

01:49Growers caught up in a shifting market pleading for a sustainable solution.

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