I'm hoping to take this discussion in an entirely new direction. It has to do with integrity and completeness of our farming operation and it comes from some frustrations that Susan and I have experienced in recent years, especially as we have made the transition to organic agriculture.
A grapegrower has certain skills, expectations, and protocols, but I have come to believe that in total they do not constitute farming. Back when I began this crazy game, I was a student of viticulture at UC Davis and a witness to the inane policies of our racially-bigoted Secretary of Agriculture "get big or get out" Earl Butz. As a star-struck novice grapegrower I was oblivious to academia being more focused on the externalities and infrastructure of farming, like what equipment to use and how to accommodate chemical management, rather than on issues of soil husbandry and environmental health. Academia hasn't changed much; I think that emphasis is still true today. But we've changed.
To be continued.
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