Section 6200 Of Article 1. Findings And Definitions From California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 4. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 12. >> Article 1.
6200
. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California is the leading producer of wine in the United
States, accounting for 72 percent of all wine, foreign and domestic,
consumed in this country.
(b) Winegrapes are grown in virtually every county for processing
by more than 800 wineries located throughout the state.
(c) California grows more than 327,455 acres of winegrapes
producing 2,570,707 tons of grapes per year valued at more than seven
hundred eighteen million dollars ($718,000,000), as of 1990, with a
direct and indirect impact on the state's economy totaling more than
eight billion six hundred million dollars ($8,600,000,000).
(d) Destructive pests and diseases, including phylloxera, pose a
significant and imminent threat to the state's important grape and
wine industry.
(e) Phylloxera has already infested grape acreage in many
California counties, including Napa and Sonoma, resulting in losses
totaling two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) to growers and the wine
industry.
(f) The state has an interest in protecting its agricultural
products from further destruction by phylloxera and other harmful
pests and diseases.
(g) To avoid a potentially catastrophic loss to one of California'
s most important industries, the Legislature declares that this
chapter is in the interest of the public health and welfare.
(h) The Legislature further declares that it is in the interest of
the public health and welfare that the districts authorized to be
created by this chapter not duplicate existing services already being
provided to grape growers by the University of California
Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor or the county agricultural
commissioners.