(Wines&Vines) - As a winery owner, you know how much wine you make and how much you sell. But do you know what your competitive position is within the wine industry marketplace? Do you know about industry trends? And do you understand the financial implications of your grapegrowing, winemaking and marketing decisions and practices? If you’re located on the West Coast, in New York or New England, you have access to benchmark programs that will allow you to find the answers to those questions. As of this month, wineries and vineyards in Michigan will have a similar program in place so they, too, can learn how their businesses stack up to their peers.

The Michigan Winery and Vineyard Benchmark Program was created by the partnership of GreenStone Farm Credit Services, Michigan and northeast Wisconsin’s largest agricultural lender; North Coast Ag Advisors, an advisory firm in Traverse City, Mich., that works with family-owned farms on business planning and financial management; and Farm Credit East, a financial services and lending institution that has run the North East Winery Benchmark Program in New York and six other states in the northeast for seven years. GreenStone is the sponsoring underwriter of the program, Farm Credit East is supplying the technology for the necessary data analysis, and North Coast Ag Advisors will be the primary contact for the vineyards and wineries that want to participate in the Michigan Benchmark Program.

According to Jim Casler, president of North Coast, the company will work with winery owners and senior managers “to learn how they are doing relative to other wineries like them. We help business recognize their strengths and weaknesses.” The program representative will also help wineries find strategies to capture the full market value of their products, develop marketing programs and find ways to control costs and increase efficiency.