The Nurseryman's Tale.

In the same, Trump administration and the wine industry piece that I remarked upon in yesterday's post, under the sub-heading 'What's normal farming?' the author of the column writes about "what seems to be a case of government over-reach."  John Duarte, owner of Duarte Nursery in Modesto (a grapevine nursery that I have purchased grapevines from in the past), is in deep manure with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The EPA is seeking $2.8 million in fines from Duarte that the agency says were incurred when Duarte tilled 450 acres of wetlands near Red Bluff, CA, in preparation for planting wheat.  The saga is a convoluted tale of what Duarte actually did and what the Army Corps of Engineers said he did. In addition to the $2.8 million in fines, the EPA wants Mr. Duarte to purchase up to 132 acres of "wetland mitigation credits" which would set Duarte back some tens of millions of dollars.
So, let me get this right, it seems that if one pays exorbitant fines to the government and purchases 'carbon credits' to mitigate a perceived indiscretion against Mother Nature, then one can do whatever one wants with, in this case, the wetlands.  Sigh.  Common sense may yet prevail, as two House members, Michael Conaway and Bob Goodlatte, are arguing that Duarte's field work should qualify as "normal" farming practices under a Clean Water Act (1972) exemption.
It is curious to me that in the same article, Kathryn Hall, of Hall Wines and a former U.S. ambassador, waxes lyrical about her goal of certifying all of her vineyards as "green" by 2020, despite, that is, these "green-decisions" not making "financial sense in the short term." That's so altruistic and earth-friendly of her.
Mrs. Hall and her husband, Craig, are developing a new 209 acre vineyard, Walt Ranch, on a 2,300 acre parcel they own in the eastern hills of Napa County.  The Napa County Board of Supervisors approved the new vineyard last December, but opponents (the neighbours of the vineyard, first proposed 10 years ago) are fighting it all the way.  It is not a densely populated area, but the people that live there not happy with, amongst other things, the fact that 14,000 trees (down from an original 28,000) will have to be removed to make way for the vineyard. Green, indeed.
Everyone in the United States needs to eat, but they don't necessarily need to drink wine.  I suspect the Halls have friends in high places: friends much more rarefied than any of  Mr. Duarte's farmer-buddies.

Fish Friendly (wine) Farming.

Last week I noticed a couple of new signs in the neighbourhood, (I think they are in two different vineyards).  The first time I spotted them, as I whizzed by on my way to TWWIAGE, I saw the drawing of the fish. The next day I saw the word friendly.  Fish-friendly wine?  A Sauvignon Blanc, perhaps?  There isn't a creek on either of these vineyards, but they each do climb a little up a gentle slope, so I was intrigued by the brightly coloured signs.  On my day off I decided to stop and have a better look and do a little research.
The Fish Friendly Farming programme is run by the California Land Stewardship Institute (CLSI).  The CLSI is a non-profit organisation that works with farmers and landowners to design and implement environmental projects that will help reduce the amount of fine sediment entering the waterways of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.  The CLSI believes that the declining population of coho and chinook salmon and steelhead trout in California is an indication of the overall health of the ecosystem.  The CLSI's blurb says that they are; "Encouraging practices that protect the endangered coho salmon and steelhead trout. Because premium food and wine comes from a pristine environment." Well now, I love good food and good wine so I feel that this programme is something I could get behind: good stewardship of the land is after all the responsible thing to do.
I don't know how much it costs to be certified 'fish friendly' (it probably isn't cheap) and one has to be re-certified every 5 years and one has to buy the metal signs.  Still it may all be worth it if rivers, streams and the fish in them benefit from farmers who perform Best Management Practices.  But - and there is always a but for me - I'm afraid that being certified fish friendly for some winegrowers and wineries would just be another marketing tool to sell more wine. Consumers nowadays are bombarded with green-labeled products and a lot of those products don't stand up to what they claim to be. Greenwashing is the term that has been coined to describe the use of misleading marketing about the purported environmental benefits of certain consumer goods.  And I'm pretty sure that wine, as just another consumer product, isn't immune to such deceptive practices.
Caveat emptor!