Wine Maker to Drop Several Potent Pesticides

Premium wine maker Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates said Wednesday it is banning the use of several potent pesticides in its worldwide farming operations, including the 11,000 acres it farms in California.

The Santa Rosa-based winery told a Sonoma County grape growers group that it will no longer use methyl bromide, the world’s most popular fumigant, to treat new plantings for nematodes and oak root fungus. It also has banned Omite, which is used to control pests, and two popular herbicides. Instead, the company will experiment with hardier root stocks, beneficial insects and other alternative farming methods.

Sustainable farming advocates hailed the move as a step in the right direction and an indication that these potent pesticides are no longer necessary for most farmers. However, Kendall-Jackson is not requiring the growers it buys grapes from in California to ban the pesticides and it will continue to use at least one popular pesticide, glyphosate, which sells under the commercial name Roundup.

Kendall-Jackson, which sells about 3 million cases of wine annually, is not the only major winery to implement organic farming strategies. Robert Mondavi, Fetzer and E&J; Gallo wineries also have curtailed pesticide use and converted a portion of their acreage to organic farming methods in anticipation of a ban on some pesticides, says Karen Ross, president of the California Assn. of Winegrape Growers. Methyl bromide is set to be phased out by 2005 under the terms of an international treaty.