New York State Winery? Sign up for Winery Benchmarks Program

bunches of grapes

High tunnel-grown grapes in University of Arkansas research yielded three times the fruit of the same variety grown outside the tunnel. (Photo by Susan Alman, University of Arkansas)

The sign-up period for Farm Credit East’s annual Winery Benchmarks program is now open! The Winery Benchmarks is a unique program for Northeast wineries to measure their businesses against wine industry peers. The program is now accepting registrations for the 2018 benchmark.

The program offers participants two report options: the Management Review report or an Executive Summary report. The Management Review report provides a highly detailed comprehensive report on every area of the winery business. The Executive Summary report requires less data for a reduced cost. It is ideal for wineries that are just getting started in the program and may not have all of the data required for the more comprehensive report.

Farm Credit East will host a meeting for benchmark participants at Ventosa Vineyards in Geneva, NY, on Tuesday August 7, 2018, which is included in the cost of the program. The meeting will cover several topics, including “Managing your wholesale relationship” presented by Sandy Waters. For most of her career, Sandy has represented Northeast wines for various distributors.

Registration for the 2018 benchmark is currently underway. Data will be required no later than June 29. If you are a past participant or new to the program, we invite you to contact your local Farm Credit East office to learn more. You can also contact the program’s director, Gregg McConnell, at Gregg.Mcconnell@farmcrediteast.com.

Farm Credit East is the largest lender to the Northeast wine and grape industry, lending more than $128 million to wineries and grape growers across New England, New York and New Jersey.

Kelsie Raucher

Kelsie is from southwest Missouri and grew up on a 150-acre farm helping her family buy and sell horses and cattle. She credits FFA for finding her passion for agriculture and food issues and desiring a career as an “agvocate.” Since coming to Cornell, she has gained interest in local production, global food issues, and environmental impacts of and on agriculture. She joined the Cornell Small Farms Program in May of 2018 and is excited to gain experience to complement coursework in the Agricultural Sciences major and Communication major.
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