Contact Pacific Southwest Waste Program
Pacific Southwest, Region 9
Serving: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, Tribal Nations
Pollution Prevention
Grant Case Study:
Integrated Farming Practices for California Winegrape Growers
The Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (LWWC) is North America's leading winegrape producing region and is made up of 650 growers and 75,000+ acres of vineyards. In 2000, LWWC was awarded $71,000 from EPA Region 9 Pollution Prevention Incentives for States (PPIS) Grant to develop an Integrated Farming Program (IFP) for winegrape growers. There are two major goals for the LWWC project: outreach with an emphasize on education and field implementation, working in the field with individual growers and specific vineyards. The project focuses on sustainable farming through the use of installation of drip irrigation systems, soil-building, and pesticide use and dust reduction practices.
LWWC developed the Lodi Winegrower's Workbook: A Self-Assessment of Integrated Farmining Practices as a tool to help growers with all aspects of growing winegrapes. The workbook emphasizes wine growing practices that focuses on good quality and environmental protection. The workbook is designed to assist growers at different stages from the beginner grower to the more experienced. There are a wide range of topics and sections from viticuluture, soil management, water management, pest management, habitat management, human resources and wine quality. The workbook also contains a self- assessment for sustainable practices inside the winery. The workbook will be used as a Pollution Prevention program model to other grape-growing regions and commodities within and outside the state of California.
Project highlights
- 17 workshops conducted results in 30% growers actively participating
- Self-assessment evaluation and action plans created by grape grower participants
- Assisted 15% of the growers who farm 40% of the region's 35,000 acres in developing and implementing their action plans
- Anaylsis of the numerical evaluations of all vineyards to determine the level of IFP adoption
- The Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers have jointly initiated the Sustainable Winegrowing Practices Project to develop a statewide code of sustainable winegrowing practices and to produce accompanying winegrower and vintner guidebooks.
For more information about the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission Project, contact John Katz at (415) 972-3283 or katz.john@epa.gov.