Coffee Shop Blog

Below average cold, below average rainfall, increasing costs, more regulations and tougher competition. We seem to be experiencing our own modern day Iliad. But it could always be worse and baseball opening day is only 55 days away. Dry conditions have taken front...

Sustainability is word bantered about freely these days. Initially, sustainability referred to the degree a farming enterprise depended on off-farm resources. This is important because all agricultural ecosystems, unlike natural ecosystems, are inherently unstable and...

Another year is behind us and although the 2013 growing season could not have been more perfect in terms of weather, there were plenty of frustrations to deal with.  Capacity and processing issues, winegrape crops which exceeded estimates (for the second year in a...

Growers can learn how to improve the health of their soils with the help of the newly revised book "Building Soil For Better Health", written by two prominent soil scientists. The book is available for free download by clicking HERE. Managing for soil health means...

There may be ongoing and needed discussion about whether the climate is changing and who, or what, is causing it. But what we know for sure is that the season has changed from fall to winter, and over the past few weeks we have experienced an “arctic blast”. As I...

During my entire 34-year career as a Pest Control Adviser I have recommended the use of pesticides on a “per acre” basis and the growers have applied them on a “per acre” basis.  At the annual Farm Safety Day I teach a class on how to calibrate spray rigs, and on...

Wineries have come to expect and depend on delivery of high quality grapes from their growers, while at the same time, vineyard operational costs have reached new highs. Most wine grape growers have responded to these factors, striving for both production consistency...

Sustainable winegrowing certification programs in California, and other major domestic winegrowing regions, have gained traction as a market tool to inform consumer choice and promote grower adoption of sustainable practices. Prominent examples of such programs...