When the Leopold Center first looked at the potential for developing the state’s grape industry in 2000, Iowa had only 30 grape-producing acres, two vineyards and nine bonded wineries. There are now more than 275 vineyards on 600 acres, 53 wineries, and the numbers are increasing
every day.

Two factors have spurred this growth: the production of grapes and wine can provide landowners with an additional source of income, and this enterprise appeals to small landowners. To encourage the use of sustainable methods, the Leopold Center has supported research on grape cultivars suited to Iowa growing conditions and best management practices for organic production. Other grants have been used to develop new marketing and educational materials.

The September 2005 grape harvest at Kirkland Vineyard near Norwalk. [Photo by Jerry DeWitt]

The Center’s latest grape-centered investment has fueled a new enology program operated by Iowa State University Extension. The Leopold Center is providing $75,000 over three years to support ISU Extension’s new enologist, Murli Dharmadhikari. A wine-making specialist, Dharmadhikari joined the ISU staff in July 2005. His charge is to educate Iowans about all aspects of winemaking.

The new enologist will work with Iowa’s grape growers, wine producers and other stakeholders including the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, to find ways to improve and expand Iowa’s wine industry. Currently only 11,000 gallons of the 2.9 million gallons of wine consumed by Iowans each year come from wineries in the state.

Dharmadhikari came to the United States from India in 1968 to study grape growing. In 1972, he received a doctorate in wine nutrition from Ohio State University. While he worked at a grape juice processing plant, he helped establish wineries in Ohio and Indiana. In 1986, he started a wine advisory service at Southwest Missouri State University.

Other partners in Iowa State’s new enology program are ISU Extension and the College of Agriculture.

Also doing grape-centered work with Leopold Center support is the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC) at Iowa State University. The AgMRC developed two major resources for people interested in growing grapes or making wine: a four-part online video series and two interactive financial feasibility workbooks.

The online video series, “The Total Wine Package,” explores the opportunities connected with growing grapes and making wine, a behind-the-scenes look at the science of enology, and selling a total wine experience. The videos have been streamed to download quickly at various connection speeds.

The workbooks, also online, look at costs for establishment of a vineyard and long-term expenses for grape production.

• The Ten-Year Winery Financial Planning Workbook can be used for any size winery. The program is flexible when it comes to options for sources of capital, equipment, marketing, staffing, fixed and variable expenses and sales projections. Reports include an asset and depreciation schedule, a two-year monthly cash flow, a 10-year cash flow, income statements and balance sheets with a percentage analysis.

• The Cost to Establish a Vineyard Workbook is designed to report all income and expenses of a one-acre vineyard for up to 13 years. There are three different vineyard workbooks, each for a different trellis style.

Grapes, once an Iowa cash crop

Few Iowans realize that the state was once a major grape-growing region.

The 1900 U.S. Agricultural Census showed that Iowa produced 7.4 million pounds of grapes and more than 76,000 gallons of farm-processed wine. In Iowa County, grapes could be found growing along the sides of houses and in communal gardens in the Amana Colonies. Each family maintained designated rows of grapes and Amana wine was distributed by "punchable" tickets -- 20 gallons a year for men, 12 for women.

The Council Bluffs Grape Growers Association organized in 1893 and by 1926 handled 1,400 tons of grapes produced on 400 acres. The bulk of the harvest was shipped to Colorado, Nebraska, and South Dakota, although Council Bluffs area growers also operated a winery and juice processing facility.

Iowa was sixth in grape production in 1919 with more than 12 million pounds. Linn, Pottawattamie and Polk counties produced approximately one-third of the state's grapes. Most of the vineyards were near Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs and Des Moines.

Iowa production peaked in 1929, yielding 15.8 million pounds. As the state's major crop focus shifted to the production of corn and soybeans in the 1930s and 1940s, grape production decreased. By the late 1940s, drift of the corn herbicide 2,4-D caused considerable damage to remaining vineyards and was a key factor in the decline of the grape industry in Iowa and other Midwestern states.

Pottawattamie County, which once had more than 3,200 acres of grapes, produced only 129,000 pounds on less than 700 acres in 1966.

In 1980, eight acres of cold-hardy hybrid grapevines were planted near Oxford as part of private initiatives to reestablish the grape industry in Iowa. The 1997 Census of Agriculture showed an Iowa grape harvest of 56,536 pounds from about 43 acres.

Source: Grape expectations: A food system perspective on developing the Iowa grape industry, by Rich Pirog, April 2000, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. More copies of this publication have been printed and distributed than any other publication at the Leopold Center.