Harvard faces opposition to $100m vineyards in California

Ivy League university Harvard is facing opposition from locals following an environmental review of its plans to store groundwater for an irrigation system to be used on some of its vineyards in California, which it began purchasing in 2012 for a total of US$100 million.

As reported by Bloomberg, Massachusetts-based Harvard began snapping up vineyards – mostly in California’s Central Coast – in 2012, intending to sell grapes for blending.

The university’s endowment, the largest in the academic world and which is managed by Harvard Management Company, spent around $100 million on more than 12 sites in the area.

The site in question, a former cattle ranch purchased in 2014 in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, is causing a headache for the academic organisation.

According to Bloomberg, locals have opposed its plans to store groundwater at the arid site and have also claimed that work it has carried out since purchasing the site has already depleted water supplies.

Harvard initially won county approval to create groundwater storage ponds as part of its irrigation system. However, following opposition from locals led by local grape and olive growers Jaffe and Stephen Gliessman, Santa Barbara county board voted 3-2 for an environmental review of Harvard’s plans. Harvard has appealed the decision and a hearing is due to take place early next year.

The Gliessmans, who use dry farming, told Bloomberg that Harvard’s plans would diminish the region’s already limited water reserves and that their well levels have dropped since Harvard began farming in the area.

Harvard is also petitioning for an exception to the region’s groundwater regulations.