Sustainable Farming Educational Resources

Barn owls are natural predators of gophers, voles, and mice, three of the most common vertebrate pests in vineyards. Matt Johnson (Cal Poly Humboldt University) studies how farms and wildlife can mutually benefit each other. Get practical guidance on barn owl nest box design, placement, and maintenance, plus how vineyard landscapes and surrounding habitat influence occupancy.

Wine buyers care about sustainability—but are you talking about it? Learn three practical ways to share your sustainable winegrowing story through tasting room interactions, sales conversations, and social media that builds trust with today’s conscious wine consumers.

With current market shifts, vineyard mothballing can buy growers time—but it requires strategy. Chris Chen (UC Cooperative Extension) explains how to manage pests and diseases, adjust irrigation by rootstock and soil type, and protect long-term yields while reducing costs and avoiding fines.

When a newly dug well revealed water too salty for irrigation, Our Lady of Guadalupe Vineyard faced a serious threat to vine health and wine quality. Discover how a reverse osmosis system and an unexpected salt-loving grass transformed a costly setback into a biodiversity-boosting solution.

Cover crops are essential for building healthy soils in vineyards and farms. Sarah Light (UC Cooperative Extension) explains how cover crops protect soil, improve water infiltration, and increase biodiversity. She also highlights a new cover crop selector tool designed for Western growing regions, helping growers match species to their land and management goals.