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This week's eNews Includes:

CAWG News:

• Lead Story: The Right to Organize and Negotiate Act
• Explanation of Sick Leave
• 2023 Membership Directory
• CAWG Foundation Scholarship Golf Tournament
• Nominations Open for CAWG's 2024 Grower and Leader of the Year

Industry News:

• Preparing for the Summer Heat
• Silicon Valley Bank's Direct to Consumer Survey
• APHIS Releases New 5-Year Strategic Plan
• Canines Helping to Sniff Out Spotted Lanternfly
• California Announces Funding for Projects to Conserve Agricultural Land and Fight Climate Change
• Agri-Pulse Food & Ag Issues Summit West
• CDFA Announces New Study to Explore Opportunities to Streamline Regulatory Processes for Agriculture

Upcoming Events

• Climate Science Seminar: Part 1
• California Pay Data Reporting for Agricultural Employers Webinar
• 2023 Western Drought Webinar
• Integrating Mechanization Workshop
• West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force Smoke Summit
• American Society For Enology and Viticulture National Conference

CAWG News

Lead Story: The Right to Organize and Negotiate Act

Well-established and long-standing state and federal laws protect an employee’s right to join a union. In California, unions have been very active in reminding employees of those rights in an effort to increase union membership (and to collect union dues) across a wide spectrum of industries.

Unions are now pushing for an amendment to the California Constitution that would add the “Right to Organize and Negotiate Act.” Senate Constitutional Amendment 7 (Umberg, D-Orange County) would constitutionally enshrine two key provisions:

1. The employee’s right to join a union, engage in collective bargaining, and protect their economic well-being and safety at work.
2. A prohibition on any future law that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes” the right of employees to organize.

Under SCA 7, any worker could potentially claim the employer is denying a constitutional right if the employer engages in a variety of corrective actions in the workplace. Additionally, SCA 7 would prohibit the legislature from passing any legislation in the future to roll back Card Check, even though that law is currently set to expire in five years. If SCA 7 were law today, two budget trailer bills that are currently pending could be found to be unconstitutional because SB 113 & AB 113 create a cap on the number of elections under Card Check. 

SCA 7 just came into print this week, so its future is uncertain. However, if the legislature approves it, SCA 7 could be on the ballot in 2024.   

Explanation of Sick Leave

But not for Labor Unions

SB 616 (Gonzalez, D-Los Angeles) would extend mandatory paid sick leave from three days to seven days annually and would also increase the number of paid sick days an employee can roll over to the next year from three to seven days. Not surprisingly, this bill is sponsored by labor unions. 

Those unions (California Conference of Machinists, California Labor Federation, Teamsters, and Service Employees International Union) claim SB 616 means “the difference between putting food on the table and kids going hungry.” However, SB 616 won’t do anything for dues-paying union members or their kids.

This is because California’s sick leave law does not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Unions can already negotiate for increased sick leave in collective bargaining and SB 616 does nothing to change that. 

Even though SB 616 does not apply to dues-paying union members, those same union members are nonetheless working hard to pass SB 616. This approach to advocacy is similar to efforts by the United Farm Workers when the ag overtime law was approved in 2016 -- Which also does not apply to employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. 

Ironically, the legislature often passes bills that don’t apply to the legislature and unions often push for bills that don’t apply to union members.  

CAWG Foundation Golf Tournament



May 16 - Chardonnay Golf Club, Napa Valley

The 4th Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament hosted by the CAWG Foundation is less than two weeks away!

Spots and sponsorships are filling up quickly - register now before it's too late, as last year's tournament sold out. All registrations must be received by May 15.

The tournament will start with registration at 8:30 AM and a shotgun start at 9:30 AM for a four-person scramble.

If you're interested in sponsoring, we have various sponsorship packages available. For more information, please contact Jenny Devine.

Register today!

Suggested Hotels

2023 Membership Directory

The 2023 Membership Directory is now available in a full-color, digital format. The directory will not be mailed but can be downloaded and printed. The Membership Directory is a useful tool that provides CAWG members with a comprehensive list of growers and business members. These listings include details such as contact information, Crush Districts, varietals grown, and services provided. Special thank you to all of our sponsors and advertisers! 

Quick Links: 

Advertiser Index and Tabs: Quickly locate a specific advertisement! Scroll over the ad to link to their website, email, or phone number.

Grower Members: View all CAWG growers in alpha order.

Associate Members: View all CAWG associate members in alpha order. We encourage members to use those companies who support the winegrape industry!

All things CAWG: View CAWG history, Board of Directors, staff & more!

Member Index: View grower members by Crush District and associate members by supply/service category.

Nominations Open for CAWG's 2024 Grower and Leader of the Year



Nominations are now open for the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) Awards of Excellence Program. 

The Awards Program presents two awards annually: Grower of the Year and Leader of the Year. These awards are meant to spotlight exceptional people or companies who have benefitted the broader community of winegrape growers through exemplary leadership and outstanding commitment to the well-being of the winegrowing industry, California communities, and the environment.

Nominations are due by June 9, 2024!

The CAWG Awards of Excellence reception will be held on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, during the opening night of the 2024 Unified Wine and Grape Symposium held in Sacramento.

NOMINATION FORMS:

For more information and to view past award recipients, please visit the CAWG website. For questions, contact Natalie Collins, President.

Industry News

Preparing for the Summer Heat

As summer approaches, we need to be prepared for the high temperatures. Employers in California must take steps to protect outdoor workers from heat illness by providing water, rest, shade, and training.

Cal/OSHA’s heat illness prevention standard applies to all outdoor worksites. To prevent heat illness, the law requires employers to provide outdoor workers fresh water, access to shade at 80 degrees, and, whenever requested by a worker, cool-down rest breaks in addition to regular breaks. Employers must also maintain a written prevention plan with effective training for supervisors to recognize the common signs and symptoms of heat illness, and what to do in case of an emergency.

In certain industries, when the temperature at outdoor worksites reaches or exceeds 95 degrees, Cal/OSHA’s standard requires additional protections. The industries with additional high-heat requirements are agriculture, construction, landscaping, oil and gas extraction, and transportation of agricultural products, construction materials, or other heavy materials.

Employers with outdoor workers in all industries must take the following steps to prevent heat illness:

• Plan – Develop and implement an effective written heat illness prevention plan that includes emergency response procedures.
• Training – Train all employees and supervisors on heat illness prevention.
• Water – Provide drinking water that is fresh, pure, suitably cool and free of charge so that each worker can drink at least 1 quart per hour, and encourage workers to do so.
• Rest – Encourage workers to take a cool-down rest in the shade for at least five minutes when they feel the need to do so to protect themselves from overheating. Workers should not wait until they feel sick to cool down.
• Shade – Provide proper shade when temperatures exceed 80 degrees. Workers have the right to request and be provided shade to cool off at any time.

Below are additional resources on the prevention of heat illness and training materials:

• Cal/OSHA's Heat Illness Prevention web page
• 99calor.org
• Heat Illness Prevention online tool
• Employers who have questions can call Cal/OSHA’s Consultation Services Branch at 800-963-9424.

Silicon Valley Bank's Direct-to-Consumer Survey

Silicon Valley Bank's 2023 Direct-to-Consumer Survey is now live and set to run through May 17.

Each year, SVB conducts this survey to gather and provide top-level analysis of metrics, insights, and trends in the wine industry. All respondents who fully complete the survey will receive gratis survey results, including anonymized detailed responses, summary analysis, and relevant charts to help plan for 2024.

Take the survey here.

APHIS Releases New 5-Year Strategic Plan

Last week, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a new 5-year strategic plan that includes six strategic goals.

The six goals focus on:

• Protecting agriculture from plant and animal diseases and pests;
• Positioning the Agency’s workforce to better meet current and future challenges;
• Delivering solutions that reduce the impacts of zoonotic and emerging diseases, and ecosystem changes, such as climate change;
• Expanding safe trade;
• Managing wildlife diseases; and
• Promoting the welfare of animals.

APHIS also released a strategic foresight report with 10 future trends and scenarios the agency will need to be prepared to navigate.

The full strategic plan and foresight report are available on the APHIS website.

Canines Helping to Sniff Out Spotted Lanternfly



Researchers at Vergina Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Science received a four-year, $475,000 grant from the USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative to utilize dogs' sense of smell to sniff out Spotted Lanternfly eggs.

Erica Feuerbacher, an associate professor at Virginia Tech, and Mizuho Nita, a Virginia Cooperative Extension specialist, and an associate professor, have partnered with researchers at Texas Tech University to combat both the spotted lanternfly and the deadly fungal disease powdery mildew with the help of canines and their citizen-scientist counterparts.

The project, unofficially called the Canine Citizen Science Study, began two years ago in an olfactory lab at Texas Tech and has recently expanded to the East Coast, where Feuerbacher and assistants are asking dog owners to unite and utilize their pets’ scent work skills to sniff the pest.

For decades, dogs and their impeccable noses, which possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors, have been used to detect missing people, narcotics, and explosives. Nose work has also become an increasingly popular dog sport, Feuerbacher said.

“To train a dog to detect an odor, we use a pairing mechanism,” Dickinson said. “The dog has to learn that a particular odor is of value to them. We present the odor and pair that with something that is pleasurable or edible – whatever is reinforcing to the dog. That creates a message in the dog’s mind that ‘If I look for that thing, and I find it, something really good happens in my life.’”

The dogs receive handfuls of treats as rewards as they worked through grapevines, sniffing, stopping, and even pointing with their paw when lines of tiny eggs were detected.

“At the completion of the study, we hope to have a strong network of handlers able to locate spotted lanternfly egg masses as a proof-of-concept program, with the intent to create an enduring citizen-based detection program for this and other invasive species,” Dickinson said. “Put your training skills to work and help protect our vineyards, fruit orchards, and flower gardens.”

Read More

California Announces Funding for Projects to Conserve Agricultural Land and Fight Climate Change



From the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

California has announced funding for the next round of the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) Program, which fights climate change by providing grants to projects that conserve agricultural lands and encourage sustainable development. Since the first round of awards in 2015, the SALC Program has awarded $373 million to projects in 36 counties, permanently conserving more than 194,000 acres of agricultural land.

“California is enlisting our working lands to fight climate change, support local economies, and combat urban sprawl,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “Across the state, we’ve conserved thousands of acres of agricultural land under this program, and will continue to support a wide range of innovative projects to reduce emissions and protect our communities.”

The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) and the Department of Conservation (DOC) yesterday announced the release of funding for Round 9 of the program, which is funded by Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds. While the total amount available in this round will be determined later this year, funds available in Round 8 last year totaled nearly $105 million.

SALC grants are available for projects that develop plans to protect agricultural lands or to conserve such lands directly by acquiring agricultural conservation easements or purchasing land outright for conservation. The program also provides grants to support the capacity of local organizations to develop agricultural conservation projects.

More information on applying for Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation grants can be found here.

Agri-Pulse Food & Ag Issues Summit West



Agri-Pulse is hosting its 2023 Food & Ag Issues Summit West on June 5, 2023, in Sacramento.

Industry experts will discuss everything from groundwater recharge to biologicals, concerns about autonomous farm equipment, the farm economic outlook, and the 2023 farm bill debates. Confirmed speakers include CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, Chris Bitter, Senior Wine and Grape Analyst with Terrain, Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced), Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield), Karla Nemeth, Director of California Department of Water Resources, and so many more.

Draft Agenda and Registration Information

CDFA Announces New Study to Explore Opportunities to Streamline Regulatory Processes for Agriculture



This week, CDFA announced a new study that will evaluate agriculture's food safety and water quality regulatory reporting requirements as part of an effort to streamline administrative processes and optimize information collected by the state. The study is supported by funding in the 2021–22 budget.

CDFA is contracting with Sacramento–based Crowe LLC to conduct the study. Crowe will map current CDFA and State Water Resources Control Board ag–related food safety and water quality reporting requirements. Crowe LLC will prepare a final report with recommendations and the project will be completed by 2025.

Read More

Upcoming Events and Trainings

Climate Science Seminar: Part 1

Napa Valley Grapegrowers is hosting a one-day interactive workshop taught by Professor Andrew Isaacs, modeled after his semester-long MBA course “Climate Change and Business Strategy,” which he teaches at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

This workshop will discuss how climate change is impacting business, and how business sustainability depends both on mitigating climate impacts, and on adaptation to ongoing climate change.

When:

• May 5, 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM, Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, St. Helena

Register

California Pay Data Reporting for Agricultural Employers Webinar



Pay data reports are due May 10, 2023. New this year, employers who use labor contractor labor must also submit “Labor Contractor Employee Reports” and use data supplied by their labor contractor to submit this information. Are you ready to comply with this deadline and understand the difference between the Payroll Employee report and Labor Contractor Employee report?

Join Fisher Phillips for a review of the law and Q & A session. They will also address the enforcement deferral request process for the Labor Contractor Employee report for those who need additional time to comply with this new requirement.

When:

• May 9, 10 AM, Virtual

Register

2023 Western Drought Webinar



Join the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Integrated Drought Information System, in partnership with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center for the 2023 Western Drought Webinar.

This webinar will provide the latest information on current drought conditions and outlooks. Speakers from the USGS, NWS Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, and NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory will also provide updates on groundwater conditions, the Colorado River Basin, and how the wet winter will or will not impact long-term drought in the West.

When:

• May 9, 11 AM - 12:30 PM, Virtual

Register

Integrating Mechanization Workshop



Mechanization impacts many farming practices from trellising to pest management, from machine maintenance to labor. In this Vineyard Team workshop, learn from experienced farmers and precision agriculture specialists about how technology drives mechanization and how you can implement these practices on your vineyard. 

When:

• May 12, 9 AM - 11 AM, Foley Estates Vineyard & Wine, Lompoc

Register

West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force Smoke Summit



The 2023 Smoke Summit will include updates and recent findings on wildfire smoke impacts from leading researchers at OSU, UC Davis, and WSU. In addition, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will provide updates on research activities and future initiatives.



Formal agenda to come.

When:

• June 7, 1 PM, Virtual

Register

American Society For Enology and Viticulture National Conference



The American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) National Conference provides an ideal opportunity for networking among members of all U.S. wine and grape regions, as well as international experts and professionals. Join us for a week of focused learning in winemaking and grapegrowing, and reconnecting with friends and colleagues.

Learn the latest about Pierce’s disease and glassy-winged sharpshooter research at the 2023 ASEV National Conference. The PD/GWSS Board Research Seminar session will be moderated by PD/GWSS Board Research Coordinator Kristin Lowe.

ASEV offers all CAWG members their discounted member rate. If you would like to register using the discounted member rate, please call the CAWG office for your promo code.

When:

• June 26-29, Napa Valley Marriott

Visit ASEV's website to learn more about their National Conference.

MAY

16 - CAWG Foundation Scholarship Golf Tournament

JUNE

7 - West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force Smoke Summit

JULY

13 - CAWG Annual Meeting (Virtual)

STAY CONNECTED