Coffee Shop Blog

The extreme drought that has gripped California over the past several years is causing onerous adjustments in the natural and human environments. Agriculture, which uses much of the state’s water, is at the center of many of these arduous responses. The 2015 impacts...

There’s nothing like tending a nice crop of grapes all season, only to watch a portion of them shrivel and having to drop them before harvest. Berry shrivel has been a malady of some vineyards throughout the West Coast for many years. Several shrivel disorders may...

Grapevine nutrition may not be on the forefront of growers concerns as bud break approaches in the vineyard. However, the drought conditions that have persisted over the past two years in areas of Texas and California will likely effect root growth dynamics, total...

California’s role as the nation’s leading producer of agricultural products is well known. In 2012 California’s farms and ranches accounted for $42.6 billion in output. California produced 15% of the nation’s total value of crop production and 7.1% of the value of...

Harvest is coming to an end in the Southern Hemisphere and most volume estimates remain unchanged.  The total crop size for all of the Southern Hemisphere should fall short of the 2014 result.  Argentina and New Zealand are experiencing the biggest declines in volume,...

Verticillium wilt causes significant losses in many annual and perennial crops in California, but it is a minor disease of grapes. Caused by the fungus Verticillium dahliae, it was first detected in grapes in 1973. Disease incidence as high as 15% in certain young...

As of the rainfall total at the end of April, it looks like we are entering a fourth year of drought. This is more severe than the 2007-09 drought and the dry spell from 2002-03.  The current rainfall season will end below long term average. However, there has been...