Smoky Wine Variety: How Federal Crop Insurance Hinders Grape Growers Affected by Wildfire Smoke

Abstract

This Note comparatively argues that while both Californian and Australian grape growers lose millions of dollars from crops damaged by wildfire smoke taint, the two countries support and insure their farmers very differently. When both areas of the world are susceptible to the damaging effects of climate change, why are the producers not susceptible to the same type of crop relief? After a careful analysis of the types of insurance the United States and Australian governments offer grape growers, the inequity stands between the systematic approach to insuring citizens against wildfires. In America, federal crop insurance only protects crops touched by the flames of wildfires, whereas, in Australia, the government recognizes the consequential effects of wildfires—smoke taint—and provides relief to their farmers for those crops damaged by smoke. The United States will fall behind the world in the wine industry, and more importantly, the billion-dollar viticulture industry in California will cease to exist, and millions of Americans will lose their jobs, homes, and hope without the support of the federal government. Thus, the United States must reevaluate the long-standing federal crop insurance policies and emulate those policies in Australia so that grape growers may feel overdue relief.