Walla Walla’s Wine Based Agro-Industrial Cluster

from RECGA Member Bill Munday, Ph.D.

This paper investigates the existence of a wine-based agro-industrial cluster geographically located in the Walla Walla area.  It begins with a description of how Walla Walla’s economy grew on the basis of agricultural production and related food processing plants and then declined sharply as the food processing sector collapsed to be reinvigorated by the growth of vineyards and the development of a wine based industrial cluster over the last quarter of a century.  Some statistical tests of the wine based agro-industrial cluster’s existence are than presented.  The paper’s final section presents a summary of findings and conclusions.