Certified Green | Sustainable Practices | Growers | Wines
Lodi Rules | History/Timeline | Farming Standards | PEAS | Certification
Lodi Rules Farming Standards
Building on a long history of implementing integrated pest management and other sustainable farming practices in their vineyards, Lodi winegrowers developed a certification program based on The Lodi Winegrowers Workbook. Unlike ‘do no harm’ programs that consist mainly of practices that should not be used, The Lodi Rules program requires growers to use a wide range of practices that result in continual improvement of the sustainability of all aspects of their farming operations.
Over a fourteen month period, beginning in 2003, a committee of growers, vineyard consultants, University of California Farm Advisors and Scientists, vintners and a wildlife biologist drafted 75 farming practice standards. Consistent with the theme of holistic farm management these practices addressed issues in the following chapters: Ecosystem Management; Education, Training and Team Building; Soil Management, Water Management, Pest Management, and Vineyard Establishment. Each standard had to meet the following three criteria to be included:
1. It must be measurable, in other words physical evidence that the practice had been carried out.
2. It must maintain or enhance one or more of the three E’s of sustainability, those being environmental soundness, socially equitable, and economically viable.
3. It must be technically and economically feasible, and not be an unachievable standard.
The draft standards were submitted to Protected Harvest (http://www.protectedharvest.org/) in late 2004 for review and some modification was required for Board accreditation, which was granted in early 2005. The program was named the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing and was launched in the 2005 growing season.
