The influence of resource use on yield versus sale price trade-off in Australian vineyards

Strategies for achieving sustainability in the winegrowing industry require balancing resource investment against the economic outcomes of resultant yields and sale price of the produce. Although there has been much research into forecasting outcomes and resource use, little has been done to illustrate their effects on one another and the consequential economic outcomes. This analysis uses statistical models to observe relationships between resource use, yield, and sale price. The dataset used for this analysis includes data collected for the past 10 years from 1261 vineyards located over a diverse range of Australian winegrowing regions. Yield and sale price were evaluated regarding resource use factors, such as water use and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The analysis confirmed a strong relationship between area and resource use, with the overall area of a vineyard and its access to resources significantly determining the upper limit of yield. However, the area was also negatively related to the average sale price of grapes; we find that higher average sale prices were connected to high resource inputs per area rather than to the overall expenditure of resources. Regional and temporal effects on vineyard yield and average sales price were also identified. The analysis highlighted the importance of considering a vineyard’s business goal, region, external pressures, and economies of scale when pursuing higher yields verse higher average sales prices.