Business and the New Economy News

ONE FARMER'S VIEW

Can one vineyard make a difference?

By Susan Hess, 12-20-05

by Susan Hess

Robin Dobson looks European to me. He wears a beret year-round and wears his straight brown hair almost shoulder length. His skin is perpetually tanned from outdoor work.

The vintner and ecologist grows grapes in the Klickitat River canyon. The valley lies east of the Cascade Mountains and north of the Columbia River, between Hood River and The Dalles, but on the Washington side of the river. It's hot and dry in summer. Perfect for growing Dobson's organic red wine grapes.

Hot climate and hot market. Don Whittaker, director of Groceries/Huckleberry's for Rosauers Supermarkets says the 21-store chain is seeing phenomenal growth in Huckleberry's, their natural food division. "Over the last five years, we've added nine Huckleberry sections to our stores, plus one free-standing Huckleberry Natural Market. The demand for natural foods is exceeding supply. We're running 15 percent out-of-stock. That's huge in this industry."

Dobson's vineyard takes up only three acres. His Klickitat Canyon Winery produces 500 to 625 cases of wine a year. Thats not much in the larger market:
Maryhill Winery, near Goldendale, produces 28,000 cases from their acreage; and Columbia Crest Winery, further up the Columbia River near Alderdale, puts out 1.5 million cases annually.

But Dobson thinks he has the better deal. He thinks that if agriculture is to continue yielding food for future generations, we must get away from the idea that larger is necessarily better, and instead help cultivate smaller operations.

"We want a maximum number of people working the land," Dobson says. "Farming brings people to the land. Then they understand what's involved in food production. And it's a wonderful life."

Like many small farmers, Dobson works another full-time job. He's a Forest Service ecologist for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. In his spare time, he's made and sold wine for the last 18 years, and eight years ago he began growing his own grapes. He uses no herbicides and pesticides, except for elemental sulfur. "I don't know how you control mildew without it," he says. His Ph.D. in plant pathology lends weight to his argument.

"Agriculture puts too much reliance on chemicals and machines to meet the growing need for crop production," he says, "Compounding the problem, we're building houses on prime soil. One of the good things about ( Oregon 's Land Conservation and Development Commission) was that they tried to protect farm land for agricultural use."

How much Dobson's upbringing influenced his thinking is an open question. He was born in Berkeley, Calif., and grew up near Geneva, Switzerland, where his American father was stationed with the World Health Organization. But whether that or he came to it on his own, Dobson has a worry not just for our agriculture, but for us.

"It's questionable whether we can survive as a species without some dramatic changes," he says. "Meeting sustainability is the only way we can be on a planet like this for an extended period."

By sustainability, he means continued yield of a biological resource, like crops, forever. For agriculture to do that he says we need to find ways to allow crop production to be part of the natural eco-system. For example, between his grapevine rows, Dobson planted native grasses and balsam root flowers. As a cover crop, they conserve soil moisture, attract beneficial insects and add organic matter to the soil. Through these native plants, the natural surrounding landscape flows in and through his vineyard and keeps the wild areas connected.

That way of farming he says may mean reduced yields, but in exchange, we gain longer production from the land. Renowned California author, speaker and farmer David Mas Masumoto first talked about changing the way he farmed to work with rather than against nature in his book, Epitaph for a Peach. When Masumoto planted native wildflowers and grasses, he found they invited the kind of insects that helped control harmful bugs. Like Dobson, Masumoto found he doesn't need pesticides or herbicides.

Yet if farmers' only ecological practice is to quit using these chemicals, they won't be doing enough, according to Dobson. He argues that to reach a level of farming this planet can sustain over centuries will also require a several interconnected measures: Reducing soil erosion, caring for riparian areas, preserving agricultural land, putting a higher value on food products, and buying locally.

"Right now our food travels, on average, 1500 miles to reach our table," Dobson says. "Our food is fossil fuel-dependent, and fossil fuel is not renewable. Once fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) are gone, they're gone. Some day we might really need them, but we're not saving any."

Dobson hopes consumers will lead the change by asking for and seeking organic food. Rosauers' Whittaker says consumer demand for organic food is a stool with a lot of legs. "It is a lifestyle itself. People believe in a social and environmental mission: fair trade, equal exchange, sustainable agriculture, water quality, and the use of herbicides and pesticides are serious issues to a lot of people."

Recent U.S.D.A. data says certified organic acreage for grapes totaled 21,041 acres in 2003, up from 16,018 acres a year earlier.

An Organic Trade Association 2004 survey showed U.S. sales of organic wine (or made from organic grapes) totaled $48 million in 2003, up 20 percent from the year before. The association projects sales of wine made from organic grapes will increase an average of 16.5 percent for each year from 2004 through 2008.

Can one small organic vintner make a difference? Perhaps, if he can convince others to see the farming life his way. And that way, says Dobson, is to look ahead: "Without sustainability, we will face dramatic changes and real troubles down the road."

Susan Hess, of Hood River, is an award-winning columnist and writer. She writes regularly for New West Columbia Gorge.

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