PREMIUM Food and Wine from our Clean Environment – a state government initiative "to develop and expand South Australia's food and wine industry locally, interstate and in key overseas markets" – was launched in November last year to great fanfare.
Identifying a sector "which generates more than $16 billion a year and employs one-in-five South Australian workers", the strategic priorities of the plan were: build our brand, grow our capability and secure production.
'Secure production' in the state government's strategy priorities encompasses "maintaining biosecurity, the sustainable use of natural resources and encouraging clean production through efficient practices".
But Coonawarra viticulturist and grazier Stuart Sharman, a member of the Limestone Coast Grape & Wine Council sub-committee on unconventional shale gas, believes the government will have problems delivering on the plan if it permits unconventional gas mining developments in the region.
"We have very grave concerns about how a very industrialised sector of the economy can cohabit with clean, green and sustainable food and fibre production," he said.
Sharman said years of effort put into building brands in the region – such as premium wine and grassfed, hormone growth promotant-free beef – could be put in jeopardy in a very short time.
"It doesn't take a great deal of media or image damage to occur," he said.
"A small spill could do a lot of damage in the aquifer – and perception is a problem even before the reality.
"It appears contradictory to promote a clean, green and sustainable region such as the Limestone Coast while on the flipside encouraging and supporting gas extraction: they are poles apart." While respecting the government's desire to realise the value of the state's sovereign wealth, Sharman says the projected returns from unconventional gas developments over a 20-year lifespan – $20 billion – are dwarfed by the projected value of the SA wine sector over the same period: $40b.
* Full report in Stock Journal, July 10, 2014 issue.
