Growers' Practices Protect Water Quality
 
The vegetation yellowing between the vines on Robert Mondavi's new Central Coast vineyard looks at first glance like dead grass. In reality, the crop of clover, barley and rye was the key component in preventing the vineyard's soils from eroding after the vines were first planted last year.

Robert Mondavi viticulturist Neil Roberts is one of a number of Central Coast growers experimenting to find the best solutions to erosion, a common problem in the region.

By designing vineyards with erosion control in mind, Roberts said, "You'll end up having less maintenance in the long-run."

But in addition to saving themselves time and money, finding their own solutions to erosion has an added benefit for Central Coast growers staying ahead of government regulations.

Federal and state agencies have recently instated plans to reduce sediment and related pollution from flowing into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. For the time being, the growers have been left to their own devices to prevent erosion. But if government standards for runoff aren't met through voluntary compliance, the agencies could crack down, potentially going as far as shutting down growing operations.

While the specter of government regulations looms, the growers themselves are taking the lead in finding ways to keep the soil in place. Even before the government turned its attention toward runoff flowing into the Monterey Bay, Central Coast growers were working on solutions to erosion and other environmental side effects.

Five years ago, a group of growers founded the Central Coast Vineyard Team with an eye toward sustainable farming. With more than 75 members throughout Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties, the vineyard team helps growers educate themselves about environmentally sound practices.

The team has established a point system based on a questionnaire its members can volunteer to fill out - which includes a number of questions addressing erosion and erosion control.. The system has two purposes: showing individual growers the areas in which they can improve and giving the vineyard team an idea of where education is needed region-wide.

The nonprofit is in line to receive an Environmental Protection Agency grant through the Central Coast's Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). The grant will fund the creation of erosion control demonstration sites at team members' vineyards, serving as examples for other growers in the region.

The RWQCB recently established a program for reducing "non-point" source pollution from runoff - pollution that can't be traced to a specific source. The agency hopes to use as few regulations as possible in addressing the problem, leaving growers to find the practices that work best for them. The Central Coast Vineyard Team's demonstration site project fit perfectly into that vision, said Alison Jones, environmental specialist with the RWQCB.

"They're doing a really good job of promoting the kind of practices we want to see," she said.
Kris O'Connor, executive director of the Central Coast Vineyard Team, said her growers have a genuine interest in learning environmentally sound techniques and passing them on to each other. "The group of people I work with are extremely progressive," she said.

Roberts of Robert Mondavi, himself a Central Coast Vineyard Team member, said farmers have the responsibility to find practices that preserve the environment. Simple adjustments like designing roads to minimize runoff can have a huge impact - if viticulturalists take the time to learn them, he said.

"Hopefully we as farmers can be progressive enough to look at things like roads," he said.

Kevin Merrill, manager of Premiere Coastal Vineyards in northern Santa Barbara County, said the county's tough environmental stance has forced him to cultivate a certain level of erosion control expertise. Merrill, whose 400-acre vineyard harvests grapes for wineries such as Fetzer and Beringer Blass Wine Estates (formerly Beringer) has worked hard to find the best cover crops to keep soil in place. He's also been proactive in planting well ahead of the rainy season.

In addition to keeping county environmentalists and government regulators happy, he has a personal interest in being progressive about erosion control, Merrill said.

"We don't want the ground washing down into the creeks, either," he said.

Holly Price, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Agriculture and Rural Lands Plan, said having farmers take responsibility for erosion control is one of her agency's goals.

"I think the real solution is having the growers want to be actively involved in shaping their programs," Price said. "No government agency can be out visiting every farm nor do they want to be."

The goal of the Rural Lands Plan, which is in the first stages of implementation, is to consolidate and streamline the erosion control efforts of agencies such as counties and the RWQCB. At the heart of the plan are 24 strategies to reduce polluted runoff, which the NOAA is counting on the farm industry itself to implement.

The six-county Central Coast Farm Bureau Coalition has taken the lead in educating growers on reducing runoff and documenting improvements. In addition, eight different Farm Bureau grower groups will develop pilot projects, similar to the Central Coast Vineyard Team's demonstration sites, to research the best methods for reducing runoff.

In another effort to help growers educate themselves, the Farm Bureau has partnered with UC Cooperative Extension, the RWQCB and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to offer classes in best management practices for preserving water quality.

"One of the important things that comes out of the course is the documentation of what they're already doing," said Mary Bianchi of the Cooperative Extension.

Having a means to document their practices allows growers an immediate way to show government agencies how they're cutting down on runoff, Bianchi said. The 35 growers who have taken the course have found it has worked to their advantage, she said.

"Our benchmark is do they keep coming back," she said. "Everybody who's started the course has finished the course."

O'Connor of the Central Coast Vineyard Team said contrary to vineyards' undeserved reputation as enemies of the environment, her growers have a keen interest in protecting both their own land and the ecosystem at large.

"The resources that are important to the regulators and community members are also important to the growers," she said. "It's natural that they (growers) want to be the best steward of those resources."