PROACTIVE FARMING,

SOIL HEALTH & BIODIVERSITY

Join us on April 29 - May 8, 2025

PROACTIVE FARMING, SOIL HEALTH & BIODIVERSITY

may 6, 2025 | Charles Krug Winery, Carriage House

SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP PILLAR: PROACTIVE FARMING, SOIL HEALTH & BIODIVERSITY

The good news is that grape growers utilize fewer pesticides* than many agricultural sectors. Napa Green works with members to ensure they adhere to a list of 56 Prohibited pesticides (RED light – most of which have not been in use for some time) and 15 restricted pesticides (YELLOW light). Napa Green is a stepping stone toward organic, but provides more flexibility in our ever more chaotic environment.

More and more we want to turn to nature as an ally, maximizing Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This means using cover crops that attract beneficial insects that eat the nasty bugs we don’t want in the vineyard, or even releasing vineyard-friendly insects like ladybugs. This also includes putting up bluebird and owl boxes and raptor perches, to help with bugs, rodents, and scare away unwelcome birds that eat the grapes, like starlings.

We also have to recognize that “weeds” are a human construct. Sometimes we are battling weeds for purely aesthetic reasons. In the farm setting, we need to return to seeing some “wild” as beautiful.

Here are some examples of other ways sustainable winegrape growers are limiting or eliminating the use of synthetic pesticides:

  • 13 of the growers transitioning to the cutting-edge Napa Green Vineyard certification are “GOLD LEVEL,” meaning Herbicide Free and Bee Kind (the latter means no use of neonicotinoids that can harm bees and butterflies)
  • Using mechanical and cultural tools (as in muscle with shovel) to clear weeds
  • Growers using regenerative practices (e.g., cover crops, compost, reduced tillage, reduced pesticide and fertilizer use) to maximize soil and plant health have seen increased resilience to viruses
  • Introducing rotational grazing of sheep, who serve as natural lawn mowers and add nutrients to the soil (as in scat)
  • Planting insectaries, preserving and restoring riparian and forest habitat, and other ways of increasing biodiversity in the vineyard
  • Strictly limiting or eliminating the use of rodenticides

*Pesticides is a term that encompasses insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides and herbicides (used to combat weeds that can compete with vines for water and nutrients).

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