Sustainable Winegrowing

This episode features two speakers on pesticides: violations and pesticide container recycling. Opening the show is an interview with Marc Lea, Deputy Agricultural Commissioner, San Luis Obispo County Ag Department. Marc describes some common violations of the pesticides regulations his office enforces. These include drift, improper use or lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), and the misus...

Josh Prigge, Founder and CEO of Sustridge, a sustainability consulting firm, talks about the ways he has helped his former employers and current clients to not only reduce their environmental impacts, but to work toward regenerative ways of doing business. References: Sustainable Hawai'I Pacific University Facebook page Josh's Blog josh@sustridge.com Sustainable Nation | Josh Prigge (Podcast) Sust...

Halter Ranch comprises 281 acres of winegrapes, 15 acres of organic walnuts, and 3 acres of olives situated in 2,000 acres of oak woodland. This means wild animals are a consideration in farming activities year round. Vineyard Manger Lucas Pope and his team have found ways to co-exist with the native fauna including deer, coyotes, mountain lion, and rattlesnakes. References: 30: Managing the Lands...

Betsey Nash, owner of Nash HR Services, brings the listener up to speed on the "ban the box" law, hiring best practices including using applications instead of relying solely on resumes, communicating expectations to employees and finding applicants who are the right fit for your company.   References: 38 Communication in the Workplace |Beth Wonson (Podcast) Ban the box article Betsey Nash | betse...

Steve McIntyre, Owner, Monterey Pacific Inc. and Board Member, Pierce's Disease/Glassy-winged Sharpshooter Board talks about the PD/GWSS Board, its function, and how the board works to reduce the impacts and spread of this disease. As chair of the PD/GWSS Board Research Screening Committee he works with other growers and scientists to decide what research to fund including an expanded mission to a...

Tom Lorish, Senior Customer Relationship Manager, describes multiple Pacific Gas & Electric Company programs and rebates to put money into growers' pockets. References: 39: Saving Water, Saving Energy, Saving Money Advanced Pumping Efficiency Program (APEP) July 26, 2018 Tailgate: Water Efficiency, Solar Energy, and Battery Storage Net Energy Metering (Video) | An easy to understand video explaini...

Tom Lorish, Senior Customer Relationship Manager, describes some of the ways the Pacific Gas & Electric Company can help growers increase the efficiency of how they use electricity on their farms- especially when it comes to irrigation. Topics include well pump efficiency testing, time-of-use rate plans, net energy metering, and net energy metering aggregation. References: Advanced Pumping Efficie...

Beth Wonson, Founder & CEO of Beth Wonson and Company shares her wisdom about communication in the workplace.  The discussion explores how to give feedback or ask questions of employees, listening with empathy, developing our workforce, and the role anger plays in poor communication.  Her examples and insights will strike a chord in anyone who has been either an employee or a manager. References:...

Jackie Dresser, Viticulture Extension Support Specialist at the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program talks about why estimating vineyard yields is so difficult and the methods she and her team are experimenting with to reach the Holy Grail of estimates that are within five percent of the final harvest. In part two of this two part interview, Jackie explored the golden question: how many samples and ho...

Jackie Dresser, Viticulture Extension Support Specialist at the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program talks about why estimating vineyard yields is so difficult and the methods she and her team are experimenting with to reach the Holy Grail of estimates that are within five percent of the final harvest. In part one of this two part interview, Jackie explains the Lake Erie region and program, why crop e...

Bart Haycraft, Vineyard Manager, Jackson Family Wines Los Alamos describes some of the techniques he for managing vineyard pests in his vineyards including cultivation, pheromones, beneficial insect releases, cover cropping, weather information, and scouting. References: 2: The Goldilocks Principle & Powdery Mildew Management | Michelle Moyer (podcast) 6: Fungicide Resistance in Grapes: Grower Per...

Living near a vineyard is desirable to many people. Also, development pressure is pushing housing into areas which have traditionally been solely agricultural.  This leads to conflicts over noise, dust, and trespassing. Deputy Agricultural Commissioner of San Luis Obispo County Marc Lea and George Donati, General Manager of Pacific Vineyard Company, discuss the types of conflicts between growers a...

Growing grapes in Michigan is fraught with challenges, from sub-zero temperatures in the winter to high humidity in the summer. Chantal Lefevbre of WaterFire Vineyards talks about how she manages her vineyards in a sustainable way despite these challenges. As an environmental scientist who changed careers to become a winegrower, Chantal wanted to ensure her farming practices protected the lakes an...

Irrigation is just one of many things on a grower's mind on any given day. To help growers conserve irrigation water in vineyards, Vineyard Team has launched a project to investigate how growers make decisions to adopt agricultural water BMPs given the competition of other management areas for the same scarce resources. Agricultural consultant Jacob Hernandez of JH Ag Consulting and Craig Macmilla...

Peter Work, Owner, Winemaker, and Vineyard Manager at Ampelos Cellars recounts how becoming a certified organic vineyard led to becoming Demeter® biodynamic certified and eventually SIP Certified®. He explains the similarities and differences between the three certifications and how that helps him farm in a way that promotes and protects the planet, his profits, and the people who work for him. Re...

Lino Bozzano, Vice President of Vineyard Operations at Laetitia Vineyard & Winery, explains how they graze goats and sheep to reduce the risk of fire, prevent weeds from establishing, and improve the health of grasslands as part a holistic approach to managing their 600 plus acre estate. References: 21: Investing in Sustainable Ag Research | Stacie Clary (podcast) Conservation Plan Template Ecolog...

The Agricultural Worker Protection Standard is a set of U.S. EPA regulations designed to protect workers from exposure to pesticides. In January 2018, new regulations came into effect. Amy Wolfe, President/CEO of AgSafe discusses changes to the Worker Protection Standard including worker training, decontamination, and emergency response training. References: AgSafe California Department of Pestici...

This podcast is an excerpt of the talk Dr. Charlotte Decock delivered at the 2017 Sustainable Ag Expo on understanding soil health - what soil health is, how to increase it, and how to measure it. Dr. Decock is an Assistant Professor Cal Poly - Earth & Soil Sciences. Charlotte Decock holds a faculty position in soil health and fertility at Cal Poly. Her teaching and research focus on sustainable f...

Integrated Pest Management means many things to many people. In this excerpt from the 2016 Sustainable Ag Expo , Dr. Pete Goodell, Cooperative Extension Advisor with the University of California, reviews the history of IPM and what is IPM as a philosophy and practice. References: NRCS Service Centers in California Putting the I Back Into IPM | Pete Goodell (Podcast) Putting the I Back in IPM Prese...

This podcast is an excerpt of the talk Dr. Kent Daane delivered at the 2017 Sustainable Ag Expo. Although Dr. Daane has laboratories on the Berkeley Campus and at the Kearney Ag Center in Parlier, much of his work is conducted in the vineyard. Recognized as one of the foremost experts in California on this controlling mealybug vectors of grapevine viruses, he shares the findings from some of his m...

Dr. Justine Vanden Heuvel, Associate Professor of Viticulture at Cornell University, describes how controlling vine vigor is difficult in regions with high organic matter soils and plentiful summer rain. Growing certain cover crops in the vine row can devigorate vines by as much as 30%. Others do not devigorate vines, but do keep soil in place. In vineyards on slopes under-vine cover crops can red...

Paul Crout is a licensed Pest Control Advisor and Certified Crop Advisor with over 15 years of experience in managing multiple crops including winegrapes. Paul explains why keeping records of water and Nitrogen use in the vineyard is important and how to use that information to best manage your crop. References: Best Management Practices for Nitrogen Fertilization of Grapevines | Bill Peacock and...

Chandra Krintz, Ph. D., Professor of Computer Science, University of California Santa Barbara talks about the SmartFarm vision to bring the same kinds of data analytics and prediction systems that are working well in other sectors of the economy to agriculture. Data from sensors and devices can be coupled with historical data to make more informed farming decisions by considering many variables at...

Many factors influence the number of people coming to the U.S. to work including the cost and danger of crossing the border and improved economic conditions in Mexico. Dr. Philip Martin, Ph. D. Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics- UC Davis, discusses some of the reasons there are not enough workers to meet the demand for farm laborers in California. References: Immigration and Farm La...

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) is a grant program of the U.S.D.A. to find solutions to problems identified by growers. By providing funding to growers for original research, demonstrations, and other projects new sustainable innovations are discovered and promoted. Western SARE Communications Manager Stacie Clary discusses the program and some of its many successes. Referenc...