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Developing an In-field Inspection Program and Chain of Custody Procedures for Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission's Sustainable Winegrape Production Certification Program

Dr. Clifford P. Ohmart
Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission
2545 West Turner Rd
Lodi, CA 95242
209 367 4727
209 367 0737 (fax)
cliff@lodiwine.com

Executive Summary

The purpose of this project is to complete two critical components of Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission’s sustainable winegrape production certification program. This program will offer an incentive to winegrape growers to implement practices that reduce pesticide use and risk, as well as other sustainable farming practices that improve soil health, increase water use efficiency, protect and enhance wildlife habitat around vineyards, enhance human resources, and add value to their grapes. The project will be accomplished by two partners, the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (LWWC) and Protected Harvest (PH). The project objectives are: 1) Develop an in-field inspection program for verifying that LWWC’s sustainable farming and pesticide impact standards are being met by growers participating in LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production certification program; 2) Develop chain-of-custody procedures for winegrapes that have been certified by LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production program. For any market-based incentives program like LWWC’s to be successful the consumer must have confidence that the certification program is transparent, reliable, and accountable. These two objectives are critical to the success of LWWC’s certification program because they provide the transparency, reliability, and accountability for the certification program.

Vineyard certification will be based on exceeding a pre-determined level of sustainable farming practices points as well as not exceeding a maximum number of ‘impact units’ per acre as a result of pesticide applications, which will be calculated using a multi-attribute pesticide environmental indicators model. The environmental benefits achieved in certified vineyards will be directly measurable by comparing measurable performance standards in these vineyards to ones that did not achieve certification. Overall environmental impact of the project can be directly calculated by totaling the number of vineyard acres certified.

Objectives

  1. Develop an in-field inspection program for verifying that LWWC’s sustainable farming and pesticide impact standards are being met by growers participating in LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production certification program.
  2. Develop chain-of-custody procedures for winegrapes that have been certified by LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production program.

LWWC is in the second year of a two-year EPA Region IX FQPA Transition and Integrated or Reduced-Risk Practices for Pest/Crop Management grant entitled “Reduction in the Use of FQPA-targeted Pesticides in Vineyards by Developing Standards for Sustainable Production of Winegrapes in the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission Crush District #11 (Contract No. X8-97966801-0). Project Objective II in this proposal was to develop an in-field inspection program and chain of custody procedures for the certification program. However, once the project was initiated, it was clear that the costs of this objective were much greater than was available from the contract. It was decided that funds from other sources would be sought to initiate and complete this objective (Ohmart 2004a). The proposal presented here is to request funds to initiate and complete this part of the project as outlined in Project Objectives I & II listed above. Even though these two objectives will not in and of themselves reduce pesticide use and risk, they are essential components of LWWC’s sustainable farming certification which will achieve reduction in pesticide use and risk. Therefore, this proposal will present the concepts of the overall certification program to justify funding of these two specific objectives.

Justification

Challenges for Winegrape Growers:

Pesticide use in vineyards, when expressed as rate per acre, is one of the highest of any agricultural crop in California (Calif. DPR 1999). Moreover, California winegrape growers face other ecological challenges in connection to their farming operations. For example, vineyard management can result in negative impacts to surface and ground water quality by providing several sources of non-point source pollution (NPS) such as offsite movement of pesticides, nutrients, and sediment from vineyards. Other sources of non-point source pollution resulting from growing winegrapes include disking of vineyard soil and sulfur dusting, which can adversely impact air quality through formation of PM 10’s. Furthermore, the recent appearance of the Glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca coagulata, in California and the recent spread of the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus, into the Lodi region not only represents significant pest problems for winegrape growers, but threatens the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission’s goal of low chemical inputs as a result of increased spraying of pesticides to control these pests. And finally, vineyard development in some areas has raised serious issues of negative impacts on ecosystem functions such as reduction in wildlife habitat value when large vineyards are established in oak woodlands in California. Winegrape growers also face many social and human resource challenges such as worker safety issues related to pesticide mixing and loading and application, adequate numbers of reliable, well-trained workers, and interactions with community members in the agriculture-urban interface.

Project Importance:

In general, there are many efficacious practices for California winegrape growers to adopt that reduce pesticide use and risk, as well as those that address the other challenges discussed above. However, even though most growers would like to use these practices there is a perception that many of them are more labor intensive and expensive. What is needed in California agriculture is a way of conveying the efficacy of these practices to the average grower that results in their adoption on an industry-wide basis, with a system for measuring and rewarding the level of adoption and the resulting outcomes. The purpose LWWC’s sustainable winegrape growing standards project is to complete the creation of such a system, through a certification program, that will offer an incentive to winegrape growers to implement practices that reduce pesticide use and risk, as well as other sustainable farming practices, and add value to their grapes. To achieve certification a vineyard must exceed a pre-determined level of sustainable farming practices points and not exceed a number of pesticide ‘impact units’ as a result of pesticide applications. These units are calculated using a model developed by Benbrook et al. (2002) that measures the impact of pesticides applied to each vineyard acre by quantitatively measuring risks via dietary exposure, worker exposure, toxicity to aquatic organisms, toxicity to birds and toxicity to pest natural enemies. This model has been recently refined to take into account pesticide application methods and timing (C. Benbrook, pers. comm.). Moreover, it is important to point out that this project not only reduces pesticide risk, it also addresses the many other ecological and social challenges discussed above.

Objective Outcomes:

Objective I. Develop an in-field inspection program for verifying that LWWC’s sustainable farming and pesticide impact standards are being met by growers participating in LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production certification program. The outcome from the development of an in-field inspection program will be documented transparency and assurance that each certified vineyard has met the requirements of LWWC’s certification program. By qualifying for certification vineyards will have experienced minimum pesticide use and risk, reduction in NPS, and measurable implementation of practices that improve soil health, water use, ecosystem health, and enhanced human resources.

Objective II. Develop chain-of-custody procedures for winegrapes that have been certified by LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production program. The outcome from the development of chain-of-custody procedures will be the documented transparency and assurance that winegrapes from each certified vineyard are tracked from the vineyard to the winery, through the fermentation process and bottling and then integrated into the system each winery uses to track their wines from winery to the consumer.

Program Background and Literature Review

About the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission: The Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (LWWC) is recognized throughout the US as a leader in grower-led implementation of IPM and sustainable farming practices. They received the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s IPM Innovator Award in 1994 (the first year it was awarded), the San Joaquin Counties TOPPS Award (Targeted Opportunities for Pollution Prevention) also in 1994, the US EPA’s Pesticide Environmental Stewardship National Award in 1999, and was declared a US EPA PESP Champion in both 2002 and 2003.

Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (LWWC) is a local marketing order made up of all of the winegrape growers in California Crush District #11. There are approximately 750 growers in LWWC farming about 90,000 acres of winegrapes, making it the largest winegrape-producing crush district in California. Moreover, LWWC produces about 23% of the premium winegrapes in California.

Since it’s inception in 1991 LWWC has been pro-active in addressing environmental concerns on the farm through its sustainable viticulture program (SVP) (Ohmart 2004b). LWWC’s SVP focuses on all aspects of vineyard management but pays particular attention to reducing pesticide use and encouraging the use of reduced risk pest management practices. LWWC’s SVP has three components: Grower Outreach, which emphasizes grower education; Field Implementation, which entails working in the field with individual growers and specific vineyards (Ohmart 1999); and Area-wide Implementation, through the use of a grower self-assessment workbook (LWWC 2004).

In 1999 LWWC developed the Lodi Winegrower’s Workbook: A Self-Assessment of Integrated Farming Practices (Ohmart and Matthiasson 2000) as a tool for implementing the third component of their SVP program, Area-wide Implementation. The workbook helps an individual grower to:

The Lodi Winegrower’s Workbook uses a systems approach to farming, covering all aspects of growing winegrapes: viticulture, soil management, water management, pest management, habitat management, human resources and wine quality. Each section is divided into ‘issues’ that address specific practices for sustainable winegrape growing and/or growing quality winegrapes. The workbook contains a total of 109 issues, 37 of which are in the pest management chapter and that address all aspects of reduced-risk pest management in vineyards. The workbook program is implemented by holding small workshops, 5-8 growers per workshop, where each grower evaluates one of their vineyards using the workbook. Over the first two years of the workbook program 250 LWWC growers farming 63,000 vineyards acres participated in a workbook workshop to evaluate their vineyards and write action plans. Two hundred vineyard evaluations from these workshops have been entered into a computer database to develop baseline information on implementation of sustainable farming practices in LWWC vineyards. During the last two years of the workbook program 100 LWWC growers farming 40,000 vineyard acres have participated in a second workbook workshop.

About Protected Harvest: Protected Harvest evolved out of an unprecedented collaboration of the World Wildlife Fund, the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association, and the University of Wisconsin. These organizations were brought together by the challenge of developing a revolutionary large-scale agricultural practice that reduced the impact on the environment. Over the course of five years, the collaboration developed a certification program for fresh market potatoes that meet stringent Biointensive IPM production and reduced-risk pesticide standards. By 1999, participating growers achieved an impressive 37% reduction in pesticide “impact units,” as compared to 1995 industry baseline data (Lynch et al. 2000). As far as is known, this is the only such program to use quantifiable performance measures for the reduction of high-risk pesticides.

In 2001, Protected Harvest was established as an independent certification organization (Protected Harvest 2004), and today, 10,000 acres of Wisconsin’s potatoes are enrolled in Protected Harvest’s certification program. Healthy Grown® potatoes, displaying Protected Harvest’s certification seal, are featured in supermarkets throughout the Midwest and East Coast of the United States. Protected Harvest certification has been reviewed very favorably by Consumer’s Union (Consumer’s Union 2004).

Approach and Methods

Objective I. Develop an in-field inspection program for verifying that LWWC’s sustainable farming and pesticide impact standards are being met by growers participating in LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production certification program. Protected Harvest as a professional certification agency in consultation with the writers of the standard will develop clear identifiable benchmarks of compliance for each farming practice requirement. These requirements will be clearly communicated to the participants of the program through a clear application procedure and documentation. Impartial trained inspectors will collect data regarding the applicant’s compliance to the farming standards during on-site inspections of the operations and report these findings to the agency for evaluation. This data will then be assessed against the standards and its compliance benchmarks for certification determination.

Objective II. Develop chain-of-custody procedures for winegrapes that have been certified by LWWC’s sustainable winegrape production program. In order in ensure the integrity of the product claim, all handlers of the product from the field to the consumer claim declaration will be evaluated by a chain-of-custody system developed by this project to guarantee that effective tracking of the certified product is realized. A system of audit trail documents will be established so they can be assessed by impartial trained inspectors to ensure that only the value added raw product is included in finished products in which the claim is indicated. The inspector will report these findings to the agency for determination of certification. The agency will assess these findings based on the standard and its compliance benchmarks.

Impact Assessment

If funded, the objectives of this project will complete the development of a certification program for the sustainable production of winegrapes in the Lodi region. To obtain certification a vineyard will have exceeded a pre-determined level of sustainable farming practices points and also not exceeded a maximum number of ‘impact units’ per acre as a result of pesticide applications in that vineyard over the past year. The environmental benefits achieved in these certified vineyards will be directly measurable by comparing these vineyards to ones that did not achieve certification. Overall environmental impact can be directly calculated by totaling the number of vineyard acres certified. Once the certification system is completed at the end of 2005 the first year goal of the program is to have 2,500 vineyard acres certified in 2006. It seems very possible that 10,000 acres will qualify for certification within 3 years of completion of the certification system in 2005.

It is likely that the successful development of standards and a certification system for the sustainable production of winegrapes by LWWC will result in the entire California wine industry adopting and using the standards and certification system. This prediction is based on the impact that LWWC’s Lodi Winegrower’s Workbook has had on the California wine industry since its publication in 2000. About a year after the publication of the workbook, the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers signed a licensing agreement with LWWC to use the Lodi Winegrower’s Workbook as the foundation for a self-assessment workbook for the entire California wine industry. In October of 2002 the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices Workbook was published jointly by these two organizations (Dlott et. al. 2002). As of November 2003 over 450 winegrape growing entities farming over 150,000 acres of winegrapes had used the workbook to assess the sustainability of their vineyard practices and develop action plans for increasing the sustainability of their management practices. This represents over one quarter of the winegrape acreage in the state.

Moreover, experience in the Wisconsin potato project indicates that even though only a certain portion of fields obtain certification the overall impact of their certification program has reduced pesticide risk throughout the region. For example, by 1999, participating growers achieved an impressive 37% reduction in pesticide impact units, as compared to 1995 industry baseline data (Lynch et. al. 2000).

Literature Cited

Benbrook, C. et. al. 2002. Developing a pesticide risk assessment tool to monitor progress in reducing reliance on high-risk pesticides. Amer. J. Potato Res. 79:183-199.

Consumer’s Union. 2004. www.eco-labels.org/home.cfm.

California Department of Pesticide Regulation. 1999. Pesticide Use Reporting Database. DPR website www.cadpr.gov.

Dlott, J., C. P. Ohmart, J. Garn, K. Birdseye, and K. Ross. 2002. Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices Workbook. Wine Institute and California Association of Winegrape Growers, San Francisco. 512pp.

Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission. 2004. www.lodiwine.com.

Lynch, S. et. al. 2000. Accelerating industry-wide transition to reduced-risk pest management systems: A case study of the Wisconsin potato industry. Amer. Agric. Econ. Assoc. (Fall): 28-32.

Ohmart, C. P. 1999. Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission’s Biologically Integrated System for Winegrapes: Final Report 9/1/95 to 11/30/98. Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission. 89pp. + attachments.

Ohmart, C. P. 2004a. Reduction in the Use of FQPA-targeted Pesticides in Vineyards by Developing Standards for Sustainable Production of Winegrapes in the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission Crush District #11. First Annual Report Sept. 22, 2003 to August 2004, 5pp.

Ohmart, C. P. 2004b. Twelve years of sustainable viticulture in Lodi. Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission Research-IPM Newsletter, July 2004 pp. 1-3. Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission www.lodiwine.com.

Ohmart, C. P. and S. K. Matthiasson. 2000. Lodi Winegrower’s Workbook: A self-assessment of integrated farming practices. Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission. 145pp. Also viewable at www.lodiworkbook.com.

Protected Harvest. 2004. www.protectedharvest.org.

Timetable

Anticipated Schedule for Achieving Objectives:

Objective 1: 1st Quarter 2005 through 2nd Quarter 2006
Objective 2: 1st Quarter 2005 through 2nd Quarter 2006

Major Participants

Dr. Clifford P. Ohmart, Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Comm., Research/IPM Director
Andrea Caroe, Protected Harvest, Certification Director
Dr. Jerry Hensley, Protected Harvest, Scientific and Technical Coordinator

Project Budget

Funding Request
Budget Category Funding Requested Matching Non-Federal Funds Matching
Federal Funds
First Year Funding
$27,304
0
0
Second Year Funding
0
0
0
Total Funding
$27,304
0
0

Project Duration: January 2005 - July 2006

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