Resources & Programs

Industry Resources & Programs

In the NSW Wine Industry Snapshot, we explore the impact of drought, bushfires, a pandemic, and new levels of global economic uncertainty. Insights into the status and performance of our market have never been more important.

See the NSW Wine Industry Snapshot below to read or download.

Programs

AgSkilled 3.0

Through the NSW Government AgSkilled 3.0 Training Program, a number of courses for people working in the Wine Industry (classified as 'Viticulture' for these courses) will be made available free of charge to eligible NSW wine industry producers and employees over the next 3 years.

The NSW AgSkilled program aims to increase industry workforce skill levels, retain a skilled workforce and attract new industry entrants to underpin the growth of the NSW wine industry. The funded training for NSW wine is a unique opportunity for our industry members to update, re-skill or undertake new training, so we are all fit for the exciting future of NSW wine.

We encourage you to apply for these courses as they provide essential skills and training to you and your workforce. There are a broad range of fully funded courses available online through the AgSkilled Website and also through one of the main training providers TOCAL College website.

The courses are run in region and tailored to suit each industry. For a full calendar list of all upcoming courses click HERE.

Drought Ready and Resilient Fund

The NSW Government has committed $250 million to establish the Drought Ready and Resilient Fund (DRRF). The DRRF improves the resilience of NSW farmers – including winemakers - to future adverse weather events and climatic conditions. Through the DRRF eligible primary producers can apply for a low interest loan of up to $250,000 which can be repaid over a period of 5 or 10 years. More information is available online. Applications are now open and will close when the funding is exhausted.

Resources

Risk Management

In consultation with industry, SafeWork NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association and its members have contributed to the development of this guide. This guide provides practical guidance for persons conducting a business or undertaking and workers on managing health and safety risks within the winery. It should be read in conjunction with other codes of practice relevant to wine production work.

RFS & NSW Wine Communications Protocol

Following the devastation ​of f​​ire and smoke in 2019/2020, NSW Wine worked with NSW RFS to agree on stronger communication protocols between the wine industry and other parties where it may be possible to minimise any impacts of fire and smoke on wine grapes from hazard reduction activities. An agreed Communications Protocol is now in place at a whole-of-State level to allow local wine regional bodies to engage at the local level with their RFS area command centres on schedule burns and hazard reduction activities with an aim to minimise the potential impacts on wine grape crops, but at all times keeping in mind that community safety is a priority.

​NSW Wine has also arranged for the following information and data for NSW RFS:

  • The latest impacts and knowledge on the effects of smoke on wine grapes has been forwarded to NSW RFS to update their knowledge, and also presented in a virtual seminar to district managers in a workshop last year.

  • The GAIA mapping data for all vineyards within NSW to be uploaded into the RFS mapping systems, so they can identify the location of vineyards

  • The approx. timings of risk for periods winegrapes in each NSW region​  

We have agreed to utilise the attached communications protocol as a blueprint for each wine region to work with their local RFS Area Command and RFS Fire Control Centres to set up formal communications​. 

We urge all wine region representative bodies to take advantage of this framework and fill in the document with their local region contacts and keep on file. Please make contact with your local NSW RFS Fire Control Centre to establish ​your ​local region key contacts ​for ​planning meetings, dealing with ​​hazard ​reduction ​burns, as well as ​p​re-season briefings and post-season reviews. The list of NSW RFS Fire Control Centres is available at (https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/about-us/contact-us/fcc) and upcoming hazard reduction burns at (https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/hazard-reductions).

Both the NSW RFS and the NSW Wine agree that good ​local ​communication is the key to achieving a good ​local outcomes​. If regional issues are intractable and after considered discussions and negotiations fail at ​the​ local level, the ​very ​last step in our agreement is that NSW Wine executive and NSW RFS executive will meet to attempt to resolve any intractable matters.​

Vineyard Biosecurity Induction

To help you protect the NSW wine industry and ensure all your staff and vineyard workers have a good understanding of biosecurity, NSW DPIRD has created a short Vineyard Biosecurity Induction video that can now be accessed free of charge via their website HERE.

They have also created an Induction Register to help you keep track of who has completed the vineyard biosecurity training within your business - click below.