Farmers in Australia's biggest wine grape growing region are preparing for crisis talks as prices plummet to early 1970s rates.
Some wineries are offering growers in South Australia's Riverland as little as $120 a tonne, while production costs are estimated to be about $300 a tonne.
Saddled with debt, farmers like Simi Gill are at breaking point, and she is now considering walking away from the vineyard her late father planted more than 40 years ago.
"I think this year is the last year that we can make it through," she said. "We just need to pay off any debts, and we are ready to get out of our vineyard anyway we can."
The Punjabi-Australian family is among more than 900 Riverland growers who have been invited to meet with wine industry bodies, as well as local, state and federal government representatives at crisis talks on Wednesday.
Second generation grower Simi Gill says the government needs to listen to the experiences of farmers. (ABC News: James Wakelin)
The issues confronting the Riverland are not unique, as the wine industry struggles globally with an excess of red wine as drinking habits change.
But the warm inland regions of the Murray-Darling Basin, which supply almost 70 per cent of the country's wine grape crush, have been hit the hardest.
Grapes from these areas are primarily sold for bulk wine production, with the biggest intake going to multinational company Accolade Wines, which produces brands like Banrock Station and Berri Estate.
Tensions over the low prices have intensified ahead of the 2024 harvest, with growers driving their tractors, harvesters and trucks in protest through the streets of Renmark last month.
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