The NSW based Southern Highlands Food and Wine Association (SHFWA) held its annual AGM before Christmas and unanimously voted to merge its activities with Business Southern Highlands (BSH) this year.

SHFWA will work closely with BSH to streamline services and improve communications and marketing for the association and its members.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with the incredible food and wine producers in our region and greatly respect the knowledge and wisdom the SHFWA brings to our business chamber,” Carisa Wells, chair of BSH said.

“Collaboration is the key to successfully promoting and growing our region and we see this amalgamation as the start of a new chapter in our lifecycle.”

BSH will support the SHWFA team to organise the annual Highlands Wine Awards and the Food and Wine Festival set for October 2023.

The collaboration will result in a much stronger organisation with more than 200 members representing a large portion of the various industries across the Southern Highlands region.  In addition, a significant cost saving will obviously be realised by both organisations, as well as greater efficiency in the promotion of the region’s local businesses.

“This merger makes a lot of sense and is in line with the global reorganisation of the Shire we can see happening, which the Council started.  If we want to seriously develop our region we need strong associations, professional and efficient, working together for the betterment of our community” said Jean-Marie Simart, President of the SHFWA.

Carisa Wells will be the chair of the new combined entity.

Are you a Daily Wine News subscriber? If not, click here to join our mailing list. It’s free!