Sonoma Valley Monoculture

While I enjoy wine, and acknowledge that industry, it’s founders, and many of it’s past and current leaders are an important part of our economy and history, our agricultural ecosystem has been unbalanced for decades, and is now essentially a monoculture. We were a healthier valley in many ways up until the late 20th century. In the 80s, vineyards began to take over, and the diversity of orchards and field crops disappeared. This accelerated the consumption of ground water and the arrival of pests like the glassy winged sharpshooter, as nature attempted unsuccessfully to rebalance the ecosystem. It’s unfortunate that ‘Sonoma Valley agriculture” at least in a balanced sense, is a thing of the past.
— Martin Laney, Sonoma