Project Overview
Commodities
- Fruits: grapes
Practices
- Education and Training: demonstration, extension, farmer to farmer, networking, on-farm/ranch research
- Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns
- Production Systems: holistic management
- Soil Management: soil quality/health
- Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures
Proposal summary:
Agricultural production on California’s Central Coast occurs on slopes susceptible to erosion and in watersheds that drain into Monterey and Morro bay estuaries or rivers listed for salmon and steelhead protection. To reduce reliance on insecticides and herbicides that might find their way into runoff that would contaminate these water bodies, many Central Coast vineyard operators have adopted integrated farming practices. Still, because growers rarely have the time to access and learn about new techniques, the Central Coast Vineyard Team plans to develop user-friendly, themed quarterly “tailgate” meetings targeting growers, owners, managers and, where appropriate, Spanish speaking workers. The team will also develop and distribute educational materials on sustainable practices to local and statewide audiences.
Project objectives from proposal: