WASHINGTON, DC–WineAmerica, the National Association of American Wineries, is pleased to report major early progress on one of its top 2023 policy priorities: A national vineyard acreage survey covering all 50 states.
The breakthrough came as part of the massive $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill passed by Congress on December 23 and signed into law by President Biden. The exact language: “The agreement encourages NASS to reinstate the 5-year Vineyard and Orchard Acreage Study and resume data collection and reporting so grape, wine, and juice producers can remain competitive and respond to challenges in the industry.”
NASS is the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the United States Department of Agriculture which used to conduct such surveys until budget cuts eliminated them over a decade ago. Two recent National Economic Impact Surveys of the Wine Industry sponsored by WineAmerica demonstrated the vital need to reinstate them.
“We are delighted at this step, and deeply grateful to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for including this language in the bill,” said Jim Trezise, WineAmerica’s President. “When we met with him in the Finger Lakes in early December, he immediately understood the importance of this as a vital first step.”
Now WineAmerica and its allies will seek to get a specific commitment from NASS to conduct a survey which would ideally include total vineyard acreage, different grape varieties, their use (wine, grape juice, table grapes, raisins), relative crop value, full-time equivalent employment, and other measures of economic impact.
“This type of information is vital to accurately measure total economic impact,” said John Dunham of John Dunham & Associates which conducted both the 2017 and 2022 studies for WineAmerica. “Grapes are the foundation of the wine industry, and reliable data is the foundation of economic research.”
The 2017 study reported the wine industry’s total economic impact of $220 billion, and the 2022 study $276 billion–a 25% increase despite the Covid era. All 50 states produce wine and include 10,637 wine producers, provide 1.84 million jobs, pay $95.5 billion in annual wages, attract 49 million tourists, and pay a total of $22.8 billion in taxes. Wine is the ultimate value-added product from the vine to the glass, and a powerful economic engine.
“This step is very encouraging in bolstering our efforts to secure reliable vineyard data for the industry,” said Michael Kaiser, Executive Vice-President and Director of Government Affairs at WineAmerica. “We still have more work to do in garnering additional support in Congress and USDA, but this makes it much simpler and faster.”
WineAmerica had planned on requesting restoration of the vineyard survey as part of the 2023 Farm Bill, and still will so so, but including it in the Omnibus spending bill will greatly speed up the process. The Farm Bill is a massive, complicated, five-year law that is difficult to pass under the best conditions but will likely be even more so with a new divided Congress starting in January. Most likely it will not be passed until the end of 2023 or later.
WineAmerica will immediately start advocating for NASS to get the funding and approval to begin creating the study parameters, since the study itself will likely take considerable time. However, it will be of great value to all 50 states. WineAmerica is the National Association of American Wineries headquartered in Washington, DC. The organization includes over 400 winery members, 40 winery trade associations, and several suppliers from 41 states, and is widely respected in Washington as a key advocate for the American wine industry.
Media contact: Jim Trezise, jimtrezise@nullwineamerica.org
Policy contact: Michael Kaiser, mkaiser@nullwineamerica.org
