This November, growers and agricultural professionals will gather in San Luis Obispo for the 2025 Sustainable Ag Expo, an event designed to foster innovation, provide high-impact education, and create meaningful connections across the wine and agricultural industries. When/Where: Kick-Off Event - Monday, November 10, 5:00-7:00 pm  |  at Center of Effort Winery Trade Show & Seminars - Tuesday, November 11 & Wednesday, November 12, 7:00 am-5:00 pm  |  at Madonna Expo Center What to Expect The 2025 program offers a robust lineup of content focused on critical topics like climate resilience, automation, and workforce development, with 17 in-person seminars offering 20+ hours of CE credit. Two-day ticket holders also receive access to 13 online courses with an additional 10+ CE hours available from October 13–November 28. Even More Opportunities to Connect and Learn Kick-Off Event: The event begins with a special Monday Night Kick-Off hosted at Cen

"GROUNDWATER . You can't see it, but millions of Californians depend upon it as a vital source of water for their homes and businesses." Those are not my words but the introductory words for the promotional video that appears on the SGMA (Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) website1 . The statement is a rather simply worded way to convey the obvious: that groundwater is vital to our livelihood here in California, and especially important to honoring and sustaining our agricultural heritage. While groundwater provides needed sustenance for numerous rural, as well as urban communities, it is agriculture that demands the lion's share of the resource. Central Valley agriculture turns to groundwater pumping whenever drought or poor rainfall years reduce the availability of surface water deliveries. Cries for construction of more reservoirs to capture and store more stormwater and snowmelt so that canals can be filled with more water are always being heard. Yet, apart f

Open Claim Vineyards Hires Oregon Wine Industry Leader Mark Bosko as General Manager

Bosko’s hiring is the first of many moves at the vineyard to craft a singular hospitality program in the Willamette Valley Dallas, OR (November 1, 2021) — Open Claim Vineyards is proud to announce the hiring of tenured Oregon wine industry leader Mark Bosko as General Manager. Mark joins the innovative and dedicated team at Open Claim […]

By Shannon Antonini, VP, Customer Risk Management As wildfires threaten communities in California and beyond, many grape growers have faced a difficult 2020 harvest made even more challenging by the fast-moving fires and smoke that has filled the region. Even for the vineyards that have been spared from the ravages of fire, extreme smoke conditions can taint the grapes. As a general recommendation, producers who believe their crop has been impacted by fire, smoke or excessive heat should file a crop insurance claim with their crop insurance agent. To provide further guidance for our customers and other grape growers, we have compiled some of the most common questions about smoke taint and crop insurance. All policyholders who believe their crop has been impacted should contact their insurance agent immediately upon recognizing potential impact and open a notice of damage. A notice of damage is to be filed by the policyholder within 72 hours of the policyholder’s initial disc

As wildfires again threaten communities in California and beyond, many grape growers have faced a difficult harvest  made even more challenging by the fast-moving fires and smoke that has filled the region. Even for the vineyards  that have been spared from the ravages of fire, extreme smoke conditions can taint the grapes. As a general recommendation, producers who believe their crop has been impacted by fire, smoke or excessive  heat should file a crop insurance claim with their crop insurance agent. To provide further guidance for our  customers and other grape growers, we have compiled some of the most common questions about smoke taint and  crop insurance.  You can reference the information below when talking to your crop insurance agent about filing a claim.  Please note: This material is for informational purposes only and cannot be relied on to replace your own judgment or  that of the risk management professionals you work with, in a