State Promotes Trading Tobacco Fields for
Fruit of the Vine
By SEAN MUSSENDEN
Capital News Service
Oct. 10, 2000
ANNAPOLIS - With Southern Maryland's historical economic dependence on
tobacco waning because of reduced interest and state buyout programs,
state agriculture officials are promoting a handful of replacement crops
and hoping at least one grows popular.
Wine grapes are near the top of that short list.
"It's possible that Southern Maryland could become like California,"
said Robert L. Swann, governmental relations director for the Tri-County
Council for Southern Maryland, which represents Calvert, St. Mary's and
Charles counties. "But it would take many years to get there."
Because Maryland's 10 wineries import a third of their grapes,
officials expect state demand for the viney fruit packed with alcoholic
potential to be spirited.
But getting tobacco farmers - most of whom have cultivated nothing but
the cash crop for generations - to the point where they can sell wine
grapes may prove difficult.
Which is where the Southern Maryland Test Vineyard enters.
Using $19,000 in tobacco settlement funds from the Tri-County Council,
the state Department of Agriculture and the University of Maryland
Cooperative Extension Service hope to have the experimental vineyard
running in Upper Marlboro by spring.
"This is a way to offer people an alternative as they get out of
tobacco," said Valerie Gonlin, administrator of the Agribusiness
Development Program for the Department of Agriculture.
The vineyard will be installed on the grounds of the Upper Marlboro
Research and Education Center.
"It's always been known as the tobacco farm," said Dave Myers, an
extension agent in Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties for the
University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service. He noted that
tobacco research will continue there in a limited role as long as tobacco
is grown in Southern Maryland.
At the vineyard, researchers will test 16 different grapes to
determine the best one for Southern Maryland's distinctive soil. Seminars
will be held to introduce longtime tobacco farmers the finer points of
grape growing, harvesting, tasting and building trellises.
"The seminars aren't aimed at brand-new farmers, but they are welcome
to attend," Gonlin said.
Officials also plan to help create cooperatives of harvesting crews
and link new growers with Maryland wineries who will purchase their crop.
Myers even envisions a Southern Maryland winery set up and owned by the
region's vineyards.
"It would be nice to have a Southern Maryland vintage," he said,
explaining such a setup would likely increase profits for the vineyards.
A glass of Patuxent River red? Maybe, but not anytime soon.
"Grape growing is a long-term investment, about seven years, and it's
very expensive," said Myers.
Startup costs are high. For the first few years, growers can expect to
shell out $7,000 per acre, Myers said, as the vines develop. Growers
won't break even until the fifth year, and won't profit until the
seventh.
Unlike cured tobacco, grapes are quickly perishable.
Judging when to begin harvesting wine grapes is a delicate combination
of art and science. A day too early or too late and winemakers may pass
on the crop.
And the actual picking, while not any more labor intensive than
harvesting tobacco, must be done in a day or two, instead of a month as
in tobacco harvests.
A farmer's families and neighbors usually harvest the crop. The short
window for picking wine grapes means outside laborers must be brought in,
something Southern Maryland is lacking right now.
"The labor shortage will be a barrier," Myers said.
After the seventh year, growers should have smooth sailing, officials
said.
"Grapes are very long lived once they're established," Myers said.
Once profitable, grape growing nearly equals the lucrative tobacco.
Growers can expect $2,500 per acre per year over cost, Myers said,
with most vineyards expected to be between 10 and 50 acres.
Another way of looking at it, said Jim Russell, communications
committee chairman for the Maryland Grape Growers Association, is
Maryland wine grapes garner $650-1,500 per ton, with an acre producing
between three and six tons per year.
There are ways to solve the crop's other shortcomings. A cooperative
of migrant labor crews that would move from vineyard to vineyard through
the harvest season could alleviate the labor shortage, Myers said.
The high startup costs? Tobacco farmers who take the state's buyout
and receive payments from the National Tobacco Grower Settlement Trust
will be able to foot the $7,000 over three years per acre bill that would
normally exclude all but the wealthiest farmers, officials said.
Compared with the setup, finding a buyer should be a breeze.
Maryland's 10 wineries, eight of which have their own vineyards, can
only produce one-third of the grapes they need. The second third comes
from Maryland vineyards, and the remainder comes from out of state,
Russell said.
The Maryland Grape Growers Association, which Russell said represents
most state vineyards, boasts 190 members. Membership has grown 30
percent in the past three years. Vineyard acreage in the state has grown
from 300 to 400 acres in that time.
But even with the growth, the state's vineyards - none of which are in
Southern Maryland - cannot come close to meeting wineries' demand.
State agriculture officials - who increasingly have promoted
Maryland's wine industry - are touting Southern Maryland as a possible
solution.
Copyright © 2000 University of Maryland Capital News Service
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