Abstract

Regulatory costs are an increasing concern for California growers. Recent studies in Salinas Valley lettuce and San Joaquin Valley fruit, vegetable and row crops show that regulatory costs are growing at a much faster rate than costs of production. Napa County Farm Bureau contacted Cal Poly to conduct a case study of regulations accruing to Napa Valley vineyards. We interviewed one large (1000-acre) and one small (200-acre) vineyard in 2025 and documented the costs of complying with regulations in the following categories:

• Education and Training for Regulatory Compliance
• Air Quality
• Water Quality
• Surface and Groundwater Regulations
• Department of Pesticide Regulation
• Food Safety
• Labor Wage Requirements
• Affordable Care Act
• Labor Health & Safety Requirements
• County or Wine Grape Related Assessments

The large vineyard’s regulatory costs equaled $1.7 million annually, or $1,744.87 per acre, which is 12.46% of production costs for 2025. The total annual regulatory costs for the small vineyard were $226,219.92 which amounts to $1,131.10 per acre, or 8.08% of production costs.

Disciplines

Agribusiness

Number of Pages

31

Publisher statement

Copyright 2026 by Hamilton and McCullough. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies.

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URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/agb_fac/164