![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610_LodiWine_GC-2-KQED.jpg\")
Bruce Fry, left, and his daughter Mohrgan Fry, right, examine grape vines at their ranch Mohr-Fry Ranches, a six-generation family farming operation since 1855, in Lodi on June 10, 2026. (Gina Castro\/KQED)<\/p>\nAbout a fifth of California\u2019s vineyard acreage has been ripped out since 2022, state data shows.<\/p>\n
Some smaller vineyards are closing shop altogether. Others are taking unique approaches, like leasing their land for use as water-recharge basins. But for grape growers who want to continue growing, there is one key to staying afloat \u2014 crop diversification.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s especially true for larger farming operations, according to Lodi Winegrape Commission Executive Director Stuart Spencer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe honestly think this is a good thing,\u201d he said. \u201cI think diversification is always good from an economic and business perspective and \u2026 ecological perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a sixth-generation farmer, it\u2019s not surprising that Fry knows so much about grapes. She grew up around the family business and always knew she wanted to be a part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate sitting in the office,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I love being outside. I love being with Mother Nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the choice, she\u2019d spend every minute in the vineyards.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get to make decisions that are different than in an office or in a lab, because you\u2019re out there and you\u2019re making pruning decisions, and then you see the results within a few months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bruce Fry, left, and his daughter Mohrgan Fry, right, examine grape vines at their ranch Mohr-Fry Ranches, a six-generation family farming operation since 1855, in Lodi on June 10, 2026. (Gina Castro\/KQED)<\/p>\n
After studying the business and engineering of agriculture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she knew she wanted to bring what she\u2019d learned back to her family\u2019s ranch as operations manager.<\/p>\n
But when she graduated two years ago, the industry was tanking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIronically, I think it was actually the best time to come join the industry, I think for me, for my family,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a time for us to really think about the decisions we\u2019re making and how we can be more efficient, how we can save money, but still be able to provide for our employees and continue to farm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Frys are no strangers to diversification. Over the 171 years their family has been farming, they\u2019ve grown 30 different crops.<\/p>\n
They started out in what is now Hayward, but at the time was land claimed by the Spanish. Fry\u2019s great-great-great-grandfather left a whaling ship in the San Francisco Bay to start farming.<\/p>\n
The family didn\u2019t start with grapes. Instead, they grew crops like tomatoes, sugar beets and wheat. As Hayward became more urban, they moved the operation to Lodi in 1965 and got into the wine business.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610_LodiWine_GC-19-KQED.jpg\")
Bottles of wine, made with Mohr-Fry Ranches\u2019 grapes, are displayed in the ranch\u2019s office in Lodi on June 10, 2026. Mohr-Fry Ranches is a six-generation family farming operation. (Gina Castro\/KQED)<\/p>\n
It was right around that time that Mohrgan\u2019s grandfather, Jerry Fry, took over the business. He\u2019s seen it through labor shifts from World War II to the Bracero Program that brought workers from Mexico.<\/p>\n
A few decades later, Mohrgan\u2019s dad, Bruce Fry, came into the business. Like Mohrgan, he\u2019d just graduated from Cal Poly. At that time, wineries were consolidating, leaving grape growers with fewer buyers.<\/p>\n
Many of the same issues the family faced then have continued. Fewer wineries, increasing labor costs, damaging pests. And now, more foreign competition and decreasing wine consumption. Jerry said none of the previous threats have been quite like the current one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my perspective, this has been the most challenging of anything that I think our family has dealt with,\u201d Jerry said.<\/p>\n
In the past, they could plant a different crop every year and rip it out if it wasn\u2019t selling well. Now, because of the soil type and price of the land, annual crops don\u2019t make financial sense for them. That means picking a permanent crop, one they\u2019ll be committed to for the next two decades.<\/p>\n
For the past year or so, the family\u2019s been weighing their options. They\u2019ve been talking to neighbors, looking at research, setting up spreadsheets. At the moment, they\u2019re leaning toward olives.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610_LodiWine_GC-17-KQED.jpg\")
A plaque awarding Marian\u2019s Vineyard for the California State Fair\u2019s \u201c2025 Vineyard of the Year\u201d is displayed at Mohr-Fry Ranches, a six-generation family farming operation, in Lodi on June 10, 2026. (Gina Castro\/KQED)<\/p>\n
And last fall, they ripped out a block of their vineyards to begin their next chapter.<\/p>\n
On another one of the Frys\u2019 properties just north of Lodi, Mohrgan and Bruce stood on a gravel path that runs right through the past and future of their farming operation.<\/p>\n
On the south side, where there once were Chardonnay grapes, little green sprouts stick up out of the dirt, far into the distance.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s safflower, a transitional crop. Mohrgan explained it will help add some nutrients to the soil that the vineyards had used up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really good for the soil health, for its porosity, all those other fun things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Transitioning crops is a yearslong process. After the grape harvest this past fall, they ripped out the vines. For several months, they planted safflower in its place. By this time next year, the safflower will be swapped out for the new permanent crop, likely olives.<\/p>\n
The process was made possible with the aid of a regional government initiative, the Ag Burn Alternatives Grant Program, that paid to help remove the vines in an environmentally friendly way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the program is really great because [it] saves you some money,\u201d she said. \u201cGetting your tax dollars back, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mohrgan and her family are keenly aware of what the government is \u2014 and isn\u2019t \u2014 doing to help farmers like them. Even as they spoke with a reporter, Bruce got an alert on his phone and pulled up a livestream of a state Assembly hearing.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610_LodiWine_GC-3-KQED.jpg\")
Bruce Fry, left, and his daughter Mohrgan Fry, right, examine grape clusters at their ranch Mohr-Fry Ranches, a six-generation family farming operation since 1855, in Lodi on June 10, 2026. (Gina Castro\/KQED)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610_LodiWine_GC-26-KQED.jpg\")
A peacock walks through a vineyard at Mohr-Fry Ranches in Lodi on June 10, 2026. (Gina Castro\/KQED)<\/p>\n