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Wine and Growers Organizations Across the State Line Up in Support of a YES Vote on the PD/GWSS Referendum

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yes-pd-boardSacramento, Calif., April 2, 2015 – The list of winegrape grower and vintner groups urging a ‘YES’ vote on the   Pierce’s Disease/Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter (PD/GWSS) Referendum, which winegrape growers are being asked to vote on this spring, is growing.

  • Allied Grape Growers
  • California Assn. of Winegrape Growers
  • El Dorado Wine Grape Growers Assn.
  • Family Winemakers of California
  • Livermore Valley Winegrowers Assn.
  • Lodi District Grape Growers Assn.
  • Monterey County Vintners & Growers Assn.
  • Napa County Farm Bureau
  • Napa Valley Grapegrowers
  • Napa Valley Vintners
  • Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance
  • San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Assn.
  • Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau
  • Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Assn.
  • Sonoma County Farm Bureau
  • Suisun Valley Vintners and Growers Assn.
  • Temecula Valley Winegrowers Assn.
  • Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley
  • Wine Institute

The PD/GWSS winegrape assessment was created in 2001 in response to the threat posed by the invasive glassy-winged sharpshooter spreading PD, which has no cure and kills grapevines. PD wiped out nearly 60 percent of the vineyards in Temecula in just two years and threatened to do the same to vineyards across California. The assessment has raised millions of dollars to fund research into finding solutions for PD, as well as address other new and emerging threats to vineyards.

“We know that the assessment has been key to the continued funding by the USDA of the PD/GWSS Area-Wide Control program which has kept GWSS from moving northward,” said the President of Winemakers of California, Paul Kronenberg. “A ‘YES’ vote is not only our best chance to find a solution to PD but also reassures the USDA that the industry is committed to our cost sharing efforts that have kept its successful PD/GWSS Control Program in place and prevented the further spread of GWSS.”

With passage of the last referendum in 2010, the PD/GWSS Board was given the authority to designate other pests and diseases detrimental to winegrapes and vines for research funding. Since then the Board has designated the European grapevine moth (EGVM), red blotch (GRBaV), vine mealybug (VMB) and brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) as serious threats to winegrapes.

Ballots for the vote on the PD/GWSS Referendum will be sent out the week of April 6. It is important that every winegrape grower return their ballots. At least 40 percent of eligible growers must cast ballots to validate the referendum. Winegrape growers who paid the assessment for the 2014 harvest are eligible to vote in the referendum.  Growers are also reminded that they may receive more than one ballot. This is not a mistake. All ballots received should be marked and returned as soon as possible.

Winegrape growers seeking to better understand why their ‘YES’ votes are needed for the upcoming PD/GWSS Referendum can go to a comprehensive website: www.YESonPDref.org. Designed and launched by a coalition of the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), Family Winemakers of California and Wine Institute, the site provides in-depth analysis of the PD Referendum and the critical work the assessment has supported since 2001.

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