California Wine Demand Faling and Foreign Investment US Ag Land

**The president of a leading California winegrape marketing association says growers need to remove 50,000 acres of winegrapes to balance supply with decreasing demand.

Jeff Bitter, president of Fresno-based Allied Grape Growers, cited several short- and long-term factors that have reduced demand for California wine.

Bitter says a longer-term trend is that younger adults are simply drinking less wine, adding demand is fragile with a lot of headwinds.

**Foreign investment in U.S. ag land is a big topic. Based on 2021 data, USDA shows over 40 million acres of American ag lands are owned by foreign investors, or 3.1% of all privately held ag land and 1.8% of all U.S. land.

Canadian investors own the largest portion at 31%, but many of the current concerns center around China which, at last check, owned 383,000 acres.

**The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a major victory to farmers when it ruled the EPA must base its decisions on sound science and the law.

The court was clear when it said the EPA failed to follow the law when it revoked chlorpyrifos tolerances, effectively banning the pesticide.

The American Farm Bureau was one of several ag groups that sued the EPA, asserting they ignored scientific evidence that proved the pesticide’s safety.