Grower News and Alerts

 Growers have asked about my recent frost recovery powerpoint presentation. For those of you who missed my talk and are interested, here is a link to my Frost Recovery webpage as a downloadable PDF. You’ll find it at the top of the page here:

For July, the El Dorado Wine Grape Grower Association is holding a special, off-site event for our members only. FOMO? Join EDWGGA today!

We anticipate going dark in August and September. However, watch the eblasts and website for updates or changes. 

December 15, 2021 - 6:30pm

Please join us for special guest speaker
Noelle Cremers, Wine Institute
Director of Environmental and Regulatory Affairs
 

Federal aid assistance will soon be available for wine grape growers who suffered financial losses as a result of wildfires, smoke, drought and other natural disasters in 2020-2021. A new Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) was recently signed into law and $10 billion will be made available specifically for the wine industry.

Unsold fruit hanging on the vine can be unsightly for many growers but does paying to drop unsold fruit make sense? My colleague Rhonda Smith (UCCE Sonoma, retired) with our UC plant pathologist Akif Eskalen wrote an excellent article addressing this question which may be of interest to you:  https://cesonoma.ucanr.edu/viticulture717/Should_You_Drop_Unsold_Fruit/

Agriculture is a risky business. USDA is here to help you prepare for and recover from the impacts of natural disasters and market volatility. USDA provides a suite of disaster assistance programs to help offset losses as well as crop insurance and other coverage options to help manage risk and provide a safety net. USDA’s Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Risk Management Agency offer a number of options. You can secure crop insurance through an Approved Insurance Provider.

Your Damage Estimates Needed for Federal Assistance

A new form has been created by the El Dorado Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures to be a preliminary data capture of the potential damage and/or loss during the August-October 2021 Caldor Fire.

The form is confidential. Most importantly, the overall numbers will be used to qualify El Dorado County for federal assistance.

The California FAIR Plan, which provides fire insurance coverage of last resort for residential and commercial properties that cannot obtain traditional coverage from other providers, submitted its farm policy rate filing to the California Department of Insurance earlier this week to move closer to providing coverage for farm properties under the recently passed Senate Bill 11 (Rubio). 

USDA Crop Insurance was the topic for EDWGGA’s grower meeting on November 18. Our thanks to Patti Velasquez of Vander Beek Crop Insurance for leading the discussion and answering growers' questions including those on how coverage for smoke taint is being handled. Patti invited growers to contact her for a no cost, no obligation estimate. Her contact information is: 209-602-5506, vdb.cropins@outlook.com. She will soon be sending out a crop insurance outline specific for grapes which we will be posting.