Wine's Economic Boost Part 2

Wine’s Economic Boost Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

It seems like every time you turn around there is a new winery popping up here in the state and indeed there are now over 700 wineries in Washington all doing a fairly brisk business. The Washington Wine Commission has just released the results of an economic study that shows some $8.6-billion dollars are being driven into the state and another $14.9 billion annually for the U.S. Steve Warner, Executive Director of the commission says the report features a county by county break out.

WARNER: We were able to break it down into the different counties, different regions so that we can quantify the economic impact because we’ve heard in the past that people in Yakima for example didn’t really understand what was the economic impact coming from the wine industry.

The wine industry has provided over $526 million in Yakima County, providing 3,149 jobs paying nearly $114 million in wages in the county.

WARNER: When you look at Benton it’s close to a billion, Walla Walla another half a billion and so this is really great data and I think the thing that I’m most excited about is that I hope it will make several audiences sit up and take note. Take note that the Washington wine industry is actually viable, strong, growing and is going to continue to be more significant in the future.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.