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CLIFF OHMART Vineyard View The End of an Era for Lodi O n Dec. 31, 2011, Mark Chandler resigned as execu- tive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, capping 20 years of exceptional leadership for the growers in California Crush District No. 11. It marked the end of an era. I spent 14 years of my professional career working for Mark. Given what Mark and the growers of Lodi accom- plished during his tenure related to sustain- able winegrowing, I felt inspired to share with you some of the program's history. The best leadership comes from someone CALIFORNIA who can work with an inspired and talented team of individuals and get them to achieve their best. One analogy that comes to mind is an orchestra maestro. The orchestra would not be able to achieve greatness without tal- ented musicians, but without a great conduc- tor to bring out the best in all of them, the orchestra would just be a bunch of people with instruments. Mark was a maestro who worked with a visionary board of directors, a talented staff and willing grower members to bring out the best in everyone. Moreover, Mark had a vision of where to go and how to get there. In recognition of his leader- ship, IntoWine.com named Mark one of the 100 most influential people in the U.S. wine industry in 2012. San Pacific Ocean CALIFORNIA Lodi Winegrape Commission Francisco Sacramento Lodi Stockton Getting ready to launch Years ago, before I began working for the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (LWWC), I helped the regional asso- ciation write a grant proposal for a new program at the Univer- sity of California, Davis, called Biologically Integrated Farming Systems, or BIFS. The core of the grant was to identify two fields that were being managed by grow- ers using an integrated farming system ap- proach. (In today's language it would be called a sustainable farming approach.) These two fields would be the focus of educational outreach to other area grow- ers so they could learn from the success- ful practices being implemented and apply them to their own fields. Mark Chandler, who was hired as LWWC's first/founding executive director in 1991, assembled a planning committee of key growers and University of California personnel to help. The grant application was successful, and the project began in fall 1995. Because of my experience as a research sci- NV Madera Modesto Highlights • IntoWine tapped Mark Chandler as one of the 100 most influ- ential people in the U.S. wine industry in 2012. • Chandler's leadership brought out the best in a visionary board of directors, talented staff and willing growers. • The Lodi Winegrape Commission's Sustainable Winegrowing Program has served as a model for many other wine regions. • Chandler's legacy will continue to influence Lodi and other regions for many years to come. 88 Wines & Vines MAY 2012 entist at the start of my career, I have always appreciated the power of data. This was reinforced during my work as an integrated pest management (IPM) consultant working with growers of orchard crops. Mark and I recognized that the BIFS grant was a great op- portunity to encourage Lodi growers and pest-control advisors (PCAs) to collect and use more data in their decision-making. In other words, the approach was "measure to manage," although we did not use this expression back then. We therefore set out to recruit growers interested in learning from the two "lighthouse" vineyards, collecting important farm-management data from their own vineyards, sharing the data and learning from each other. Under Mark's leadership, we recruited 30 growers to participate in the first year of the BIFS project. At the end of the first year, LWWC offered me a staff job. By the 1997 growing season, we had recruited 45 growers, along with 16 PCAs who worked with them, and 70 vineyards totaling 2,300 acres. We were capturing in a computer database weekly pest monitoring, pesticide applications, fertilizer appli- cations, vineyard floor management practices and irrigation re- ports. Each winter the group met to review all the data and learn from it. We also held many field days at the lighthouse vineyards to view on-the-ground practices being implemented. The grant funded the project for three years, so the funds stopped in 1998.