Grape Farms in America
Vocab level: B2
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Hello my friends!
Today we are going to the grape farms in the state of California to see how billions of grapes here are cared for and harvested.
In California, vineyards are concentrated mainly in the southern region of the San Joaquin Valley.
Between January and February is the time when viticulture takes place on most Californian farms.
To build a new grape farm, workers will dry out these stakes into the ground to install an automatic watering system
and make a perch for the seedlings.
After the watering system is installed,
these workers will proceed to dig holes to plant trees.
Thousands of vines have been moved from the nursery here to start a new life.
These workers will plant about 900 vines per acre
and the distance between the vines is about seven feet.
In 2021, the total vineyard area in California is about 918,000 acres,
accounting for 95% of the country's grape growing area.
After about a month from planting,
the vines will be fixed to the pole so that they can grow vertically.
Currently, most grape varieties grown in California take at least three years to reach their first harvest.
This is the pruning process on a 5 year old grape farm.
In winter, these vines will have their entire branches pruned
and new branches will grow in the spring.
When new branches appear,
farmers will proceed to prune the leaves to focus all of the nutrients remaining on growing branches.
Young shoots growing at the bottom of the stump will also be removed.
May is the time to bear fruit on most Californian grape farms
and the grapes take about 70 days to reach harvest.
At this stage, insecticides will be used to protect the grapes from the attack of pests and aphids.
To ensure the quality of grapes when harvested,
workers at the farm will cut about 30% of the grapes.
If you only have a few vines in your garden, this pruning can be very regrettable.
Grapes are a fruit tree that needs regular watering throughout their life cycle.
During the hot season, a mature vine needs about 8 to 10 gallons of water per day.
These grapes are ready to start a new harvest season.
Do you feel satisfied when you look at these pictures?
This is the harvesting process on a table grape farm.
These workers will cut each grape by hand,
and the unsatisfactory fruit will be discarded.
During the annual grape harvest season,
around 95000 workers flock to the vineyards to work.
And the average salary that they receive is about $18 per hour.
Millions of grapes after harvest will be tested again before packing.
In 2021 California produced 5.9 million tons of grapes,
accounting for 95% of the country's grape production
and bring in a value of about 5.2 billion dollars.
This is the process of harvesting table grapes at another farm.
Currently, there are about 48 varieties of table grapes grown in California.
Next, we will go to a wine grape farm to see how the harvesting process here works.
Wine grapes are used to make juice and wine,
so harvesting is not done with the same care as table grapes.
Millions of grapes after harvest will be sent to factories to produce grape juice or wine.
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