A Texas Tribune article on the plight of wine producers whose crops are being lost to chemicals applied by cotton farmers points out the experiences of the owner of Bryan-based Messina Hof winery.
Paul Bonarrigo, who bought 800 tons of grapes from the high plains last year…where most of the state’s grapes are grown…told WTAW News the issue is not that complicated.
He gave the illustration of having “an ax and I was coming over to your property and I was just cutting something down. Boy, that would seem real cut and dry and it would really seem easy. Well, this is the same thing except it’s being done airborne and that’s the difference.”
Bonarrigo says the state’s $3 billion dollar wine industry is threatened by chemicals that control weeds in other crops coming from genetically modified seeds.
Bonarrigo says in the high plains of Texas, the fruit is being developed at the same time chemicals drift from neighboring cotton fields.
Bonarrigo says chemical companies have developed new versions of herbicides that are supposed to pose less of a threat. But he says cotton producers are still buying less expensive formulations that do more damage.
Bonarrigo says the chemicals used to control weeds in cotton and cornfields also have a negative impact on pecan and peach orchards.
Click below for comments from Paul Bonarrigo, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver: