Govt events to preference SA food and wine
South Australian wine and food will be given preferred status at all State Government-supported events, under a new policy unveiled today.
The new State Government policy means that food vendors at major government-supported events such as the Clipsal 500, sport at the revamped Adelaide Oval, and SA’s arts festivals, will be required to use local produce wherever possible.
While existing supply contracts – at the Oval, for example – won’t be superseded by the new requirements, the policy will apply when contracts come up for renegotiation.
Buying 100 per cent local won’t be mandated – but organisers will have to give first consideration to the locally-sourced product.
At the moment there is no requirement for food and drink at Government organised or sponsored events to be principally local.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Gail Gago said the policy should provide a boost to local food and wine producers.
You might like
“A toolkit will be developed to guide Government agencies and ministers’ offices on how to buy local, providing support to help them establish whether selecting SA produce is possible when arranging functions and hot to identify and promote local products at the events,” Gago said.
She said she recognised that not all items or ingredients could be local – either for availability or price reasons – but she believed the policy would have a positive effect for South Australian producers.
Gago used the Adelaide Convention Centre as an example. It spends about $4.3 million annually on food and drinks, 98% of which is sourced from South Australian suppliers.
Publican Gareth Lewis, owner of the King’s Head, which serves South Australian beer, wine and produce exclusively, said local products were among the freshest and highest quality available.
“While I realise this will not be possible to this level across Government, any effort to give preference to our fantastic products will hep promote and shine a spotlight on local brands,” Lewis said.
The buy local push is part of the Government’s “Premium Food and Wine” policy announced today.
Stay informed, daily
The policy includes new measures to maintain South Australia’s status as the only fruit fly-free mainland state.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the Government would build a research and development facility in the Upper Spencer Gulf to lead efforts to combat fruit fly. The $3 million facility will research “sterile insect technology” and produce a line of male-only Queensland fruit fly for SA and the rest of Australia.
Partner organisations Horticulture Australia Ltd, CSIRO and Plant and Food Research Australia will invest about $15 million over five years in the project.
Weatherill also announced new measures to combat the grape vine-destroying pest phylloxera. He said new phylloxera detection tests would be trialled in 2014-15, a commercial testing service would be established and “opportunities to expand DNA testing to pests and diseases affecting other industries will be explored”.
The State Government’s moratorium on genetically modified food crops would continue until 2019, along with increased promotion for South Australia’s “non-GM status”.
The policy also flags a new focus on soil.
It says that crop yields in Australia have plateaued due to “biological and soil constraints”. In fact, 40 per cent of land under broad acre agriculture in SA has “soil issues which limit agricultural production”.
An $852,000 soil health program, called “New Horizons”, will undertake research on the top layer of soil. The program will research a proposed method of ploughing deeper into the soil to mix clay into the topsoil so it holds more water.
Want to see more stories from InDailySA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDailySA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDailySA". That's it.
