GENTLER FARMING IN WINE COUNTRY

The heart of California’s wine country is actually 75 miles southeast of the well known Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Down in the vast Central Valley they grow grapes, and lots of them. In fact the area around the town of Lodi (LOW-dye) produces the largest share of premium varieties in the entire state. It is here in these vineyards that growers are mounting one of the largest efforts in the nation to move beyond the age of intensive chemicals into an era of more natural farming combining old-time wisdom and the latest technology. Living on Earth’s Peter Thomson and host Steve Curwood recently visited the valley and made this report.