by Jim Trezise, President Farm Bill Moves Ahead The Senate and House were both in session this week, and the respective Chairs of both Agriculture Committees—Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Representative Glenn Thompson (R-PA)—seem intent on advancing the massive five-year Farm Bill. President Biden has proposed an increase of 14%, to $30.1 billion, for the … Read more

Idaho has a long history of grape and wine production, with the first vineyards planted in 1864 even before neighboring Oregon and Washington, which have evolved into much larger industries that supply some grapes for some Idaho wineries. The large Snake River Valley AVA, established in 2007, has been joined by two others: Eagle Foothills, … Read more

As I reported last week, the President’s budget proposal includes a 14% boost for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support the Farm Bill plus additional research. How wise. A few recent developments have reminded me of how research pays off in so many ways, even though it typically takes time to do … Read more

Thanks to the Aloha State, we have direct interstate wine shipping in America today. If you go back almost 40 years, to 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bacchus decision ruled that giving Hawaiian pineapple wine favorable treatment in terms of excise taxes would be unfair discrimination under the Commerce Clause. That same year, when wine … Read more

Wine is produced and consumed in all 50 states, and every single one is wonderfully unique… Georgia has a long history of wine going back to the 19th Century, and was even the sixth largest wine-producing state in 1900. But it was also among the first to institute Prohibition (in 1907), which devastated the industry … Read more