Posted on 06/06/2006 5:56:46 PM PDT by blam
Grape glut leaves vineyards facing ruin
By Nick Squires in Sydney
(Filed: 07/06/2006)
Hundreds of Australian vineyards are facing ruin amid a glut of grapes that has left the industry producing far more wine than it can sell at home or overseas.
The problem is so severe that the industry said yesterday that it will take a multi-million pound government bail-out to save smaller producers from going out of business.
The popularity of Australian wine in Britain and America, coupled with generous government tax breaks, encouraged a craze for establishing vineyards from the late 1990s. The Wine Grape Growers' Council of Australia said that years of over-planting of vines and two recent bumper crops meant that up to 40 per cent of grape growers would lose their livelihoods unless urgent action was taken.
Mark McKenzie, the head of the council, said: "We need to take 15,000 hectares or 300,000 tons out of the system for the next two years."
The heads of Australia's six largest wine companies will hold a crisis summit in Melbourne on Friday. They want the government to provide £24 million to compensate growers for not picking their grapes for the next two years.
Ummmmm....Huh?
It's a damn cartel!! How dare they not produce everything they can!
That's a shame- I honeymooned in the Hunter Valley- Australian (and New Zealand) wine is very good- sure beats the French- Buy a case to help them out...
Dynamite the Foster's breweries so they have to resort to wine for ye old alcahol buzz
Sell 'em as raisins.
Distill the wine and use it for auto fuel. It should smell good.
You beat me to it, Thats what I was going to say, with people starving i the world use the grapes for food, raisins are great food./
They have too many grapes yet they propose ways to prevent growers from going out of business. As Lady Thatcher once said "I want you to solve the problem, not make it permanent."
I'm pretrty sure this is BUSH'S FAULT.
i'll do my part and drink as much of the extra wine as they are willing to give away :P
The good news is grape wood makes wonderful firewood.
Not the tourist traps like Sydney or Melbourne. Maybe Perth or Adelaide, the real Australia.
The horror... oh the horror....
Isn't wine supposed to get better as it ages? Let it age and sell it for more.
August 8, 1994
Honorable Secretary of Agriculture
Washington D.C.
Dear Sir:
My friend, Ed Peterson, over at Wellsburg, Iowa, received a check for $1,000.00 from the government for not raising hogs. So I want to go into the "not raising hogs" business next year.
What I want to know is, in your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to raise hogs on and what is the best breed of hogs not to raise? I want to be sure that I approach this endeavor in keeping with all governmental policies. I would prefer not to raise razorbacks, but if that is not a good breed not to raise, then I would just as gladly not raise Yorkshires or Durocs.
As I see it, the hardest part of this program will be in keeping an accurate inventory of how many hogs I haven't raised.
My friend, Peterson, is very joyful about the future of the business. He has been raising hogs for twenty years or so, and the best he ever made on them was $442.00 in 1968, until this year when he got your check for $1,000.00 for not raising hogs.
If I get $1,000.00 for not raising 50 hogs, will I get $2,000.00 for not raising 100 hogs? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to about 4,000 hogs not raised, which will mean about $80,000.00 the first year. Then I can afford an airplane.
Now another thing. These hogs I will not be raising will not eat 100,000 bushels of corn. I understand that you also pay farmers for not raising corn and wheat. Will I qualify for payments for not raising wheat and corn not to feed the 4,000 hogs I am not going to raise?
I want to get started as soon as possible as this seems to be a good time of the year not to raise hogs and grain.
Also, I am considering the "not milking cows" business, so send me any information on that too.
In view of these circumstances, you understand that I will be totally unemployed and plan to file for unemployment and food stamps.
Be assured you will have my vote in the coming election.
Patriotically yours,
Jean Partridge
P.S. Would you please notify me when you plan to distribute more free cheese?
That said, I think I'll go find me a case or two. Anything to keep the government's hands out of it. I'm jusht a (hic!) mee-farket...fee-mar...free-market kinda guy, I guessh...
Very funny. I haven't read that before.
There are cheese factories in California that ship cheese no where else but to government warehouses.
The government gave the cheese away free because it was going bad in the warehouses.
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