1Hello my friends!
2Today we are going to the grape farms in the state of California to see how billions of grapes here are cared for and harvested.
3In California, vineyards are concentrated mainly in the southern region of the San Joaquin Valley.
4Between January and February is the time when viticulture takes place on most Californian farms.
5To build a new grape farm, workers will dry out these stakes into the ground to install an automatic watering system
6and make a perch for the seedlings.
7After the watering system is installed,
8these workers will proceed to dig holes to plant trees.
9Thousands of vines have been moved from the nursery here to start a new life.
10These workers will plant about 900 vines per acre
11and the distance between the vines is about seven feet.
12In 2021, the total vineyard area in California is about 918,000 acres,
13accounting for 95% of the country's grape growing area.
14After about a month from planting,
15the vines will be fixed to the pole so that they can grow vertically.
16Currently, most grape varieties grown in California take at least three years to reach their first harvest.
17This is the pruning process on a 5 year old grape farm.
18In winter, these vines will have their entire branches pruned
19and new branches will grow in the spring.
20When new branches appear,
21farmers will proceed to prune the leaves to focus all of the nutrients remaining on growing branches.
22Young shoots growing at the bottom of the stump will also be removed.
23May is the time to bear fruit on most Californian grape farms
24and the grapes take about 70 days to reach harvest.
25At this stage, insecticides will be used to protect the grapes from the attack of pests and aphids.
26To ensure the quality of grapes when harvested,
27workers at the farm will cut about 30% of the grapes.
28If you only have a few vines in your garden, this pruning can be very regrettable.
29Grapes are a fruit tree that needs regular watering throughout their life cycle.
30During the hot season, a mature vine needs about 8 to 10 gallons of water per day.
31These grapes are ready to start a new harvest season.
32Do you feel satisfied when you look at these pictures?
33This is the harvesting process on a table grape farm.
34These workers will cut each grape by hand,
35and the unsatisfactory fruit will be discarded.
36During the annual grape harvest season,
37around 95000 workers flock to the vineyards to work.
38And the average salary that they receive is about $18 per hour.
39Millions of grapes after harvest will be tested again before packing.
40In 2021 California produced 5.9 million tons of grapes,
41accounting for 95% of the country's grape production
42and bring in a value of about 5.2 billion dollars.
43This is the process of harvesting table grapes at another farm.
44Currently, there are about 48 varieties of table grapes grown in California.
45Next, we will go to a wine grape farm to see how the harvesting process here works.
46Wine grapes are used to make juice and wine,
47so harvesting is not done with the same care as table grapes.
48Millions of grapes after harvest will be sent to factories to produce grape juice or wine.