Enfield, Conn. — In honor of National Wine Day on May 25, Farm Credit East salutes the contributions of all Northeast wine and grape growers, including vineyard operators, wine producers, and juice and table grape growers. The region’s wine and grape industry is an important and growing sector of Northeast agriculture.
There are more than 700 wine producers across the Northeast, creating an economic impact greater than $26 billion and supporting more than 200,000 jobs, according to a 2017 economic impact report released by WineAmerica. New York is the region’s largest grape-growing state, with 450 wine producers and 11,684 acres of vineyards.
Farm Credit East is the largest lender to the wine and grape industry in the Northeast, lending more than $128 million to wineries and grape growers across New England, New York and New Jersey. Many growers also work with Farm Credit East on financial services, including tax preparation, consulting, payroll, appraisals and more. These specialized services help producers control costs, market products more effectively and ultimately capture more profit.
In addition to loans and financial services, Farm Credit East offers a unique Winery Benchmarks program. Through extensive comparison of a business’s winery information to its peers, this program helps producers identify strengths and weaknesses, learn new strategies and marketing techniques, and find new ways to control costs and gain efficiencies.
To learn more about Farm Credit East’s service to the Northeast wine and grape industry, visit FarmCreditEast.com.