A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® C A L I F O R N I A Trees & Vines ®
Paul Bernier, working in his Sonoma County vineyard, embraced “dry farming” long ago. He shuns traditional irrigation lines and instead works to retain moisture in the soil with cover crops and compost, including ingredients from duck manure to crushed oyster shells. Studies from University of California, Davis, researchers suggest vines can use 50% less water with little impact on quality.
Winegrape grower nourishes soil to combat drought By JohnBeck
question: CouldNorthCoast growers in Sonoma, Napa, Lake andMendocino counties get by with watering less during the drought? Last September, aUniversity of California, Davis, study showed that giving vines 50% less water than they typically demand didn’t affect yield, taste, color or sugar content. “The idea of the trial was, it’s so hot andwe’re having these heat waves; dowe need to increase the amount of water that we apply?” said KaanKurtural, a UCDavis professor of viticulture and enology. The results of the study he co-authored showed that may not necessarily be the case. Bernier is a believer. To retainmoisture, he cultivates his soil by turning over a healthy cover crop of native vetch andmustard, alongwithplanted legumes. He layers that with various composts hemakes fromgrapepomace andduck andhorsemanure. That helps holdmoisture in the soil well past the rainy season and into the annual harvest. He also occasionally enriches the soil with crushed oyster shells he sources from Suisun City. Last June, in the dog days of the drought, he texted a photo of moist soil only 6 to 8 inches below the surface, showing his vineyard was still holding moisture. But he is not one to brag or to try to convert others; Bernier’s journey has been one of necessity. He had to farmthisway becausemost of the neglected vineyards he inherited and nursed back to life had no wells or scarce water resources.
When Paul Bernier learned to “dry farm” grapes fromold Italian growers in the early 1970s, the idea was simple: “In a climate where it rains in the winter and it’s dry in the summer, you had to figure out a way to retain the moisture in the soil,” he said. Bernier embraced that philosophy at a timewhendealsweremadewithhandshakes, which was well before drip irrigation lines were strung across Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley vineyard region. “They call it ‘dry farming’ now, but they used to just call it farming,” recalled Bernier. Over the past five decades, Bernier has used less water thanmany grape growers use in a year. Granted, his operation is relatively small scale. Aside fromhis 1.5-acre family vineyard, he farms 35 acres of mostly head-trained zinfandel, paying each landowner aroundaquarter of the yield, while sellinghis grapes to Sbragia, Dutcher Crossing, Nalle and Peterson wineries. None of the vineyards use any irrigation lines. “I’mbasically building up the nutrients in the soil because the dirt is a sponge for the rainand themoisture that comes in thewintertime,” he said, explaininghis no-irrigation cultivation. “All that organic matter in the soil makes more of a sponge, and more of sponge means bigger plants andmore crop.” Now, as the third year of a severe drought bears down onCalifornia farmers, and the dry-farming approachof Bernier andothers is tested to its limits, it raises a very relevant
See DRY, Page 8
April 13, 2022 Ag Alert 7
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