Enjoying a cheese platter and a bottle of wine with friends is something many do to celebrate the weekend, but the indulgence can take on greater importance in the wake of the dairy industry crisis.

Local radio stations 3BO and Star FM are calling on residents and businesses to crack open a bottle of wine and, more importantly, pass around a platter of Australian-produced cheese this Friday evening to shape Bendigo’s Biggest Wine and Cheese Night, in support of embattled dairy farmers.

3BO breakfast show hosts Bryan Coghlan and Erin Ryan, better known as Cogho and Ez, said buying Australian cheese was a way to make a positive impact on the domestic industry.

Ms Ryan said their initiative aimed to raise awareness of the issue and encourage people to look more closely at the labels of the cheeses they bought to ensure they originated in Australian dairies.

“We want empty shelves in every supermarket,” Ms Ryan said.

Some local businesses have already gotten behind the initiative, with the Hibernian Hotel offering free cheese to diners and replacing the usual bar snacks with cheese platters on Friday night, and Big Hill Vineyard giving cheese and biscuits to customers this Saturday.

But Ms Ryan and Mr Coghlan hope to see more businesses come on board and celebrate Australian cheese and dairy in their workplaces.

Tongala dairy farmer Neil Pankhurst said while the industry was still reliant on the larger export market to keep it afloat, support efforts such as the cheese night were “all good for Australian dairy farmers”.

“I’d certainly encourage people to buy Australian dairy,” Mr Pankhurst said.

But Mr Pankhurst said the crisis highlighted the support not only the dairy industry, but all Australian agriculture industries needed from consumers.

Dairy farmers have been hit hard recently by major processors Murray Goulburn and Fonterra slashing the prices they pay for milk, compounding the stresses inflicted by drought.

Photos posted to social media have shown supermarket shelves across the country emptied of brand-name milk as the community endeavours to support farmers.

But Ms Ryan said that while milk was the obvious product to buy to support the industry, the purchase of other dairy products, such as cheese, also made an impact.

Within the past week Coles supermarket has announced a support fund for dairy farmers, ANZ Bank has launched support measures and the Victorian government has introduced a $1.5 million package to support affected communities.

Businesses that get involved in Bendigo’s Biggest Wine and Cheese Night can use the hashtag #thisisbendigo on social media to show off their efforts.