Massive plots of farmland are either vines with rotting grapes still attached or mounds of pulled-up vines scattered across the landscape.
Stokes is a third-generation farmer in Lodi. He works hundreds of acres of grapevines. This year was the first year he didn't pick half of them.
He wasn't the only grape grower who had to make those same sacrifices this past year.
The winegrape industry has been hard hit across the state.
In February of last year, the Allied Grape Growers Association asked growers to pull 50,000 acres, with at least 12,000 of those in Lodi.
For the city and surrounding farmland, the situation has been even tougher.
"If you're an average consumer or a Lodi local resident and you're driving around, you can see the wilted raisin fruit that was unpicked," Lodi Winegrape Commission Chair Jacylyn Stokes-Iniguez explained. "Normally, you sometimes just see it on the end rows, but you could walk down the row and see it. It was pretty devastating for us growers."
As a result, many grape growers have turned to other crops.
While it may seem bleak, farmers still have hope for this year.
"We'll get through it. We'll do something else," Schatz shared. "We're not going to quit. We're not quitters, that's for sure."
In the meantime, farmers won't get a good picture of this year until the USDA releases its Grape Crush Report, which comes out in a few weeks.
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