00:01I think you can see behind me, we're pretty spoiled with some green paddocks at the moment.
00:09But as we know, everything can change quite quickly.
00:12So we've had some lovely winter rain, a little bit of discussion that, you know, things are
00:21getting a little bit dry and we go, geez, it'd be nice to have an inch of rain and then
00:25all of a sudden we get one or two inches.
00:26So we are positioned going into the growing season, it's quite ideal, but we're very cautious
00:35of, I think, things to come and we know it can get quite extreme pretty quick.
00:41Jeff, for those of us who don't understand the ins and outs of wine production, how fragile
00:46are grapes and the vines when it comes to those changes in the climate and the weather conditions?
00:52Look, grape vines are pretty hardy crops, but at the end of the day, it's like anything.
01:00You can imagine yourself just standing out in the sun and, you know, you can get scorched
01:08pretty easily.
01:09So you know when you need a drink or a little bit of sunscreen and stuff like that.
01:14We're pretty clever as in there's few products that we can actually put on when we're going
01:21to have some of those 40 degree days, like a sunscreen product, which is very useful.
01:27But at the end of the day, we're all striving for quality and to showcase what Australia
01:34can grow.
01:35And that is the, that's the key to the game.
01:38So we're all a little nervous.
01:40We're all looking at different farming techniques to try to ward off any extreme weather events.
01:49And tell us about some of those farming techniques.
01:51You've obviously got some ways to adapt, but what other ways are being explored?
01:55I mean, the obvious is always a little bit of irrigation, but there's different things
02:00like mulching, different farming practices so that maybe the, the old, the old method
02:06of just ploughing all the time is, is maybe keep those grass wards and, and, and get some
02:13native grasses involved in, in your mid row and stuff like that.
02:17So at least you have some water retention in the soils.
02:22So all of our members and, and we're constantly discussing different ways to, to combat that.
02:28Earlier, we spoke to a researcher who's been looking into the impact of climate change on,
02:33on wine and on growers.
02:35And she was talking about this potentially leading to the emergence of other wine regions
02:41because of the particular climate conditions.
02:44Have you spoken to people who have potentially considered relocating to, to somewhere that might
02:51have better growing conditions?
02:53Oh, absolutely.
02:54Um, I, I, I think you, it would be remiss of any business to just, um, stick to, stick
03:02to their guns.
03:03I mean, they, you'll see lots of businesses will have a, a few vineyards in a few other
03:08locations just to, um, not, not, not just to combat climate change, but also just farming
03:15in general.
03:16I mean, you might get rain or hail and, or an extreme weather event in one spot and, and
03:22not in ideal conditions in another.
03:25So, um, I, I, I think it's a good thing to, to have a few different, uh, scenarios in, in,
03:32in the, uh, tool belt, if you will.
03:34Mm.
03:35Jeff, we really appreciate your time this morning.
03:38Thank you so much.
03:40And good morning to you guys.
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