California’s wine industry is in trouble — and it’s not alone.
Several industries that are at the core of California’s economy — and our identity — are confronting the greatest challenges they have ever faced.
The wine industry is being squeezed from both sides.
On the demand side, young consumers are growing less interested in wine. Some are interested in other drinks, or in legal marijuana. Others, especially in the age of weight-loss drugs, have lost interest in alcohol altogether.
On the supply side, a series of severe droughts in the past decade led to over-pumping of the underground aquifer, which prompted the state to intervene and charge farmers for what had once been a common resource.
Now, vineyards have to pay almost $99 per acre to irrigate their lands — adding costs to each barrel of wine.
Ironically, the last several winters have been very wet — meaning that there is lots of fruit on the vine. Much of it is being left to rot.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on the border also created an acute labor problem for California agriculture.
The Trump administration addressed the problem by changing the wage rules for farmworkers. But that effort has just been blocked by a federal judge in Fresno.
The headaches are endless.
And the wine industry is not alone. Other iconic California industries are also in trouble.
Hollywood is reeling from tens of thousands of jobs losses — with no end in sight.
The entertainment industry is struggling under the burden of labor strikes, regulatory costs and competition from tax incentives in other states.
And that’s before you consider the challenges posed by AI-generated content, and the movement toward social media as a form of entertainment, over traditional film and television.
President Donald Trump is trying his best to help, despite the fact that Hollywood has often been cruel to him.
On Monday, he announced a renewed push for federal tax credits for American films.
If Congress follows through, that could make a difference.
But California needs its own economic leadership, not just federal help.
That doesn’t mean protectionism, or spending more money on subsidies to favored industries.
It means cutting the taxes and regulations that affect all industries.
It means investing in energy and infrastructure that can help lower costs and ease operations for the entire state.
It means boosting law enforcement to make our cities safer for retail businesses, for example, and to protect our rail lines from cargo theft.
It is not enough to point to the massive profits that have started to roll into AI — when even the tech sector is losing jobs.
We need bold economic leadership that can break with the status quo.
Because the status quo is not working.
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