Written by: Christine Kuehn, Sonoma RCD
“Carbon is the backbone of life, and is found in all living organisms and ecosystems above and below the ground. Cover crops, compost application and reduced tillage all serve to increase carbon in the soil,” stated Keith Abeles Soil and Water Specialist at the Sonoma Resource Conservation District in a recent article about carbon farming. The Sonoma RCD has partnered with Jackson Family Wines to look at these practices in action out at a working vineyard. Jackson Family Wines, producers of iconic brands such as Kendall-Jackson and La Crema, is one of Sonoma County’s leading winemaking companies that strives to focus on balancing economic success with ecological sustainability, is a natural partner for this field trial.
With a Healthy Soils grant from the CA Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA), we are exploring vineyard management choices for soil building and carbon sequestration at Saralee’s Vineyard in Windsor. The findings from this trial will aid in determining best practices for scaling up across their 13,000 acres of California vineyards. It is the hope of the partners that the project will also serve as a model in the industry, as demonstration workshops are held to encourage discussion of findings among local grape growers.
Saralee’s Vineyard is set within western Sonoma County, in the Russian River Valley American Viticulture Area (AVA). The project site is located in the lower Mark West Creek watershed, a subwatershed to the Russian River watershed and is situated on Yolo sandy loam soils. The project looks at the effects of compost application in conjunction with three industry-standard tillage method alternatives – full till, alternate-row till, and no-till. The purpose is to see how different levels of tillage may interact with compost amendment to influence soil health and soil carbon content as well as vine productivity and grape yield. Treatment and control plots have been established in each grape varietal block: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
This innovative and exciting effort was recognized last fall at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco and during a special “Scaling Up Climate Smart Agriculture” event preceding the Summit, organized by CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. The project tour at Saralee’s Vineyard provided a unique opportunity to learn from innovative international leaders and to share the local work being done on the ground to combat our changing climate, while adapting to its impacts. Staff from both Jackson Family Wines and the RCD spoke in the field about the project logistics, landowner goals and were honored to showcase this developing work.
Check out the CDFA Healthy Soils Project video here: https://vimeo.com/user17673657/review/294230664/8bc995eca4
