Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
for making measurable improvement. Between 2000 and 2003, Ohmart
presented 48 workshops in the district. Nearly 300 Lodi growers have
taken the workshop once, and one-third of them have taken it twice.
This represents almost all of the active full-time growers in the district.
These growers manage 68,000 of the 80,000 acres in the district.
The commission recently began the fourth stage of its program, the
Lodi Rules for Winegrowing. Based on its prior work developing a farm-
ing system approach and the Lodi workbook, the commission's goal is to
define, measure, and implement “sustainability,” with the intent of being
able to demonstrate this to wineries and the public. The Lodi Rules are
the first peer-reviewed standards for winegrape growing, and they are
certified by an independent third party, Protected Harvest. The standards
were developed jointly by growers, scientists, academics, and environ-
mentalists, and are customized to the specific ecological conditions of
Lodi. The rules have two components: sustainable winegrowing
standards, and a Pesticide Environmental Assessment System. The 75
farming standards are organized into six chapters: ecosystem manage-
ment; education, training and team building; soil management; water
management; vineyard establishment; and pest management. The
Pesticide Environmental Assessment System measures the collective
environmental impact of pesticides used in a vineyard. To qualify for cer-
tification a grower must score more than 50 percent in each chapter of
farming standards, and not exceed a determined threshold of pesticide
environmental impact. These winegrape growers will use the Lodi Rules
to represent their environmental stewardship, and have enrolled
Protected Harvest to verify this.
Cliff Ohmart has been central to the success of Lodi's partnership
activities. He alternates roles as scientist, teacher, dentist, and ambassa-
dor, all bound together by his circulation of knowledge among growers,
PCAs, scientists, and regulatory agencies. His PhD in entomology from
UC Berkeley helped him direct research funded by the commission, but
when speaking to growers he invokes his experience as an independent
PCA. Before working for the commission, he developed a computer pro-
gram to help him organize and then analyze pest monitoring data from
his clients' orchards. He insists to Lodi growers that once he invested the
time and money to set up a data management system his job became
easier, and that he made better decisions as a result. Once he began
