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34 WINES&VINES August 2018 VINEYARD VIEW greatly improved the sustainability of our man- agement of vineyard soil, efficacious use of water and energy, enhancement of habitat and biodiversity, and bettered the working environ- ment for employees. All of which enables us to produce the highest-quality wine grapes possible in an economically sustainable way. What has not changed What has not changed is human behavior. This is a much more challenging case to present, because unlike describing changes in equip- ment and technology, making observations about changes (or not) in human behavior is much more anecdote-based. Most of us are instinctually wary of or resistant to change, or both. Sort of the attitude, "If it isn't broken, then don't fix it." It was true 20 years ago, and it seems true now. The problem with this at- titude is that it gets in the way of striving to do better. In other words, continually improv- ing our farming, which is a major goal of sus- tainable viticulture. When I discussed the idea of sustainable viticulture with a grower 20 years ago, the reaction was skepticism and push-back. The usual comment when we discussed adopting a sustainable farming practice was: "What is it going to do for my bottom line?" This reaction has not changed. Granted, a much higher percentage of growers in 2018 are familiar with the concept of sustainable farming. However, even among many of these growers, their skepticism remains about sustainable wine grape growing being good business. I have al- ways had a problem with the "bottom line" argu- ment because many growers do not have a detailed enough vineyard-management plan and accounting system to accurately determine if a new practice is going to pay for itself or not. I think much of the skepticism comes from our instinctual resistance to change. Another sentiment from growers that has not changed is the notion that state and federal environmental and worker regulations are going to put them out of business. Two decades ago, I frequently heard statements such as, "I became a farmer to farm, not to do paper- work," or "I spend 90% of my time in the office and 10% in the field." I hear the exact same comments today. De- spite this opinion, the U.S. wine industry is larger now than it was 20 years ago, and wine is now produced in all 50 states. Granted, there has been consolidation in acreage managed by farming companies in the major wine grape regions, but there are still a large number of small wine grape growers. In fact, given the rise of wine industries in more states, there are likely more growers now than 20 years ago. How can we improve In my opinion, the biggest challenge presented to us by sustainable wine grape growing is that there is no finish line. There is no point in time when we can say: "We are there." Improvements can always be made, and each of us needs to figure out how to make that happen. How to improve on measuring and managing one's vineyard operation. There are many ways to do this, and it will not be the same for everyone. Self-assessment workbooks, such as the "Lodi Winegrower's Workbook," the "California Code of Sustain- able Winegrowing Workbook," "Vinewise" in Washington and "VineBalance" in New York, are great tools to use periodically to be re- minded where improvements can be made. If you farm in a region not covered by these workbooks, there are still many practices in them that are applicable to most regions. I highly recommend growers take advantage of these great tools. Cliff Ohmart, Ph.D., was a senior scientist for SureHar- vest for eight years and author of View from the Vineyard: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Wine Grape Growing. Previously he served as research/IPM director at the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission. He has been writing about sustainable winegrowing issues for Wines & Vines since 1998. YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP SINCE 1983! CONTACT US TODAY! 575 ird St. Bldg. A Napa CA 94559 707-255-6372 | napafermentation@aol.com www.napafermentation.com