Wine Grapes COVID-19 Relief Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Relief for wine grape growers has the full support of the Congressional Wine Caucus that is urging the USDA to include them in the next round of coronavirus payments.
Caucus Co-Chair, U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse says wine grapes are one of those specialty crops that really needs to be included in the relief package …
NEWHOUSE … “The wine grape industry is anticipating huge losses this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. And so, we’re bringing that to the attention to USDA to make sure that wine grapes are included in the next package so that that part of our agricultural economy can remain as strong as possible going on into the future.”
The losses expected for the wine industry in general and Washington specifically, Newhouse says are huge …
NEWHOUSE … “The economic impact is just short of a billion dollars that they’re looking at in losses just in the state of Washington in the wine grape industry and that’s certainly from sales, but also from wine grape production and all of the negative impacts that can be attributed to the pandemic.”
The need for relief, Newhouse says is across the board …
NEWHOUSE … “There needed there. The industry is a huge part of our economy and it’s a very important thing that we respond in a way to make sure that our economy and this industry remains healthy on in to the future.”
Listen tomorrow for more on the pandemic’s economic impact on Washington’s wine industry.
