Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
as people, not documents or web pages. The human proportion of
knowledge sources slipped some in the 2003 survey, probably because
growers had learned about and experimented with most of the new prac-
tices. These responses show how important partnership activities have
been to the commission's success.
Lodi winegrape growers perceive the fusion of environmental and
winegrape quality as their most important economic opportunity. They
ranked these as major management practice opportunities:
improving winegrape quality (more than 80 percent)
supporting efforts to increase US wine consumption (more than 75
percent)
further strengthening their regional identity (more than 70 percent)
adding new, available technologies (more than 50 percent).
Increasing yields per acre is the most common opportunity perceived by
most US growers. This is seventh on the list for Lodi growers, identified
by fewer than 20 percent. Lodi growers have undergone a major shift in
mindset. Quality improvement is a long-term driver for sustaining agri-
culture and improving its environmental performance.
The Lodi Woodbridge Winegrape Commission's efforts have been
successful because its members have supported and participated in a
social system that facilitates knowledge exchange, and because they have
been able to hitch agroecological knowledge to economically useful
knowledge about quality. The growers have repeatedly affirmed their
willingness to “self-tax” to support the commission's efforts by majori-
ties of more than 90 percent. They continue to invest in this partnership,
and they find useful its services, both in research/extension and market-
ing. This social structure circulates applied ecological knowledge
throughout all five loops of Latour's model. The Lodi partnership has
continued because the commission provides continuity and cohesion. As
environmentally responsible as some of these growers are, they have
been able to profit from improving their collective reputation, which is
something few individuals can do alone. The BIFS grant was an essential
part of progressing toward partnership goals, but the commission was
able to parlay this into an on-going process of social learning.
The California winegrape industry in general is recognizing the value
of communicating to the public their efforts to protect environmental
resources. This commodity faces the greatest danger of negative public
 
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