Yesterday, the USDA issued a press release, announcing the appointment of 14 people from across the agricultural landscape to the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board. All 14 were selected and appointed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Six members were re-appointed, and eight are new.

The NAREEE Advisory Board provides feedback to the Secretary on USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area, and to land-grant colleges and universities on food and agricultural research, education, extension and economics priorities and policies. In addition, I'll serve an advisor to the Specialty Crop Committee, which carries out the work of the Board as it relates to grapes and other specialty crops.

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SunMaid’s Steve Vasquez, an NGRA Board member, snapped this photo on September 25, 2021. He writes, "Here are three levels of moisture as grapes dry into raisins: Left cluster = 100% moisture, just picked; middle = 50%, called "frog bellies"; right = 12%, dry raisins ready for processing." Steve adds that these are Fiesta raisin grapes that were grown on an overhead trellis system and dried on the vine.

Are you a strategic planning professional with expertise in agriculture or, even better, viticulture? Or do you know someone who is? If so, please consider our request for proposals for strategic planning services. We seek to develop a bold, thoughtful and dynamic new strategic plan with a horizon of at least five years (some goals may require a longer timeframe) that will enable us to confidently and uniquely meet and even anticipate industry research needs, and that will be rigorously renewed every five years to come. Get more details and view the complete RFP. All proposals are due by November 8, 2021.

The dates have been announced for the next National Viticulture and Enology Extension Leadership Conference (NVEELC)! Make plans to join with fellow extension and outreach specialists August 14-17, 2022, in the central San Joaquin Valley—the largest, most diverse viticulture production area in the U.S. NVEELC 2022 will offer professional development, including research and regional reports, and foster collaboration and dialog, helping viticulture and enology extension professionals stay apprised of industry challenges across the country. Tours of vineyards, labs and other local viticulture and enology research and extension assets is an important part of the agenda for this event, and this year will cover mechanization and wine, raisin and table grape production. Stay tuned for details and registration for NVEELC 2022!

This month, the “Around Farm Progress” podcast featured Dr. Carrie Castille, who in January 2021, began her six-year term as director of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). In the interview, she talks about the agency’s “modern approach to agriculture,” referencing its priority to develop national programmatic leadership in the areas of AI, workforce development, climate-smart agriculture, robotics and more, and support land-grant universities in delivering these innovations. She draws a comparison to the data inputs that go into the decision-support systems farmers use to her work guiding the agency in delivering value: “Data can be used to make better decisions, not only on the production level, but also for us,” she says. “The more data that I have in terms of what the research priorities are, the better I can focus (NIFA) programs to make sure that we have an impact.” Listen here.

Congratulations to Oregon State University’s Elizabeth Tomasino, principal investigator (PI) of the project, “Assessment and Management of Risk Associated with Wildfire Smoke Exposure of Grapes in the Vineyard,” which has been awarded a four-year, $7.65 million grant from the USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). Elizabeth, Co-PIs Anita Oberholster (UC Davis) and Tom Collins (Washington State University), and a team of collaborators and industry cooperators and advisors will work to help the grape and wine industry better prepare for and respond to smoke exposure events. The objectives of this timely project include producing tools with which to predict and mitigate smoke risk to grape and wine quality, including establishing sensory thresholds for exposure, creating grape coatings to reduce or prevent smoke uptake, and developing predictive models for risk. 

Researchers from UC Davis have been awarded a five-year, $10 million Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) grant by USDA-NIFA to find ways to sustain irrigated agriculture while improving groundwater quantity and quality in the Southwest under a changing climate. PI Isaya Kisekka of UC Davis is leading a team of more than two dozen climate, plant and soil scientists; hydrologists; engineers; economists, educators and extension specialists from institutions in California, Arizona and New Mexico. They will develop climate change adaptation management strategies that ensure sustainability of groundwater and irrigated agriculture. Project objectives include development of management practices to improve soil health, develop alternative water supplies across California’s Central Valley, central Arizona and the lower Rio Grande basin in New Mexico, and reduce water demand so the region can continue to produce various agriculture commodities, including grapes.

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded a $189,794 grant to the Alliance for Science at the Boyce Thompson Institute to effectively communicate the advances in gene editing to improve sustainable agriculture. The Alliance provided matching funds for a total $760,271 investment to develop and implement a communications plan to elevate the work of FFAR beneficiaries, like the RIPE (Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency) project, which is optimizing crop productivity by enhancing photosynthetic processes. The Alliance also is conducting several training courses, including one session to familiarize U.S. journalists with current gene editing research and introduce them to leading scientists in the field, and another to engage young people in science communication and inspire them to pursue careers in plant biotechnology.

Miranda Purcell recently joined the Purdue Wine Grape Team as its viticulture extension specialist, replacing Bruce Bordelon, who served on the team for more than three decades.

As announced in July, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) Executive Director Sally Rockey is retiring at the end of 2021. FFAR is now recruiting candidates for her successor. See the comprehensive (seven pages!) job description for this important position. FFAR also seeks an AgMission Program Director, a visionary new role mobilizing farmers, ranchers, scientists, data providers, stakeholders and funders to develop and implement climate-smart solutions at scales and rates previously unimagined. Both positions are based in Washington, D.C.

The University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) is hiring eight more UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) advisors. They (and the counties they serve) are:

Including those listed above, UC ANR has released 28 UCCE positions for recruitment over the past three months and more will be announced in November, staged to avoid overwhelming the university’s Human Resources team. In 2022, 70 more UCCE specialists and advisors will be hired to help Californians better address issues including climate change, wildfires, food security and pest management. To apply, visit https://ucanr.edu/About/Jobs/ and search for the positions by title.

Looking for an opportunity to do important work in grapes, hops, strawberries and other novel crops in Michigan? Check out this job at Michigan State University, providing technical support in small fruit and hop pathology research field plots and laboratory experiments, collecting data, summarizing results, conducting statistical analysis of data, interacting with industry partners and mentoring other laboratory personnel. Applications are due by November 2, 2021. Learn more and apply.

The NGRA-initiated High-Resolution Vineyard Nutrient Management project, led by Washington State University’s Markus Keller, received second-year SCRI funding this fall. Organized to develop both sensor-based tools to measure in-field grapevine nutrient status and regional nutrition guidelines, the research will help growers to manage vineyard nutrition using precision viticulture.

But first, the team set out to benchmark how the industry is—or isn’t—managing vineyard nutrition today. A survey was conducted in Spring 2021 to give the team an overview of current practices, gauge the appetite for new technologies, and guide future research.

The majority of respondents (57%) determined nutrient status using both tissue and soil testing rather than soil or tissue testing alone.

Tissue testing. The majority of respondents (60%) test vine nutrient status annually and 23% test every two to three years. Just under half (47%) only test petioles, and 10% test only leaf blades. Whereas 22% of respondents test both leaf and petiole samples separately (two different tests), 19% of respondents collect composite leaf samples where whole leaves (blade + petiole) are tested.

Tissue test timing was split between bloom and véraison, with 44% of respondents sampling at both bloom and véraison. Most (62%) sample vineyards at a rate of <5 acres per sample. However, 31% of respondents sample 5 to 20 acres per sample. Area represented in a tissue sample was not related to total farm size; growers with larger vineyards did not necessarily sample larger areas.

Soil testing. The majority of respondents test vineyards soils regularly. Most (43%) test soils every two to three years, but 20% test annually and 24% test at intervals greater than three years. The remaining respondents test vineyards only when problems arise (10%) or when required by regulation (2%).

Although 73% of respondents agreed that nutrient management was very or extremely important to achieve yield or quality targets, the majority indicated that nutrient management costs comprise only 5-10% of their total vineyard management budget. The majority (64%) believed there would be yield losses with improper nutrient management. But most (68%) believed it wouldn’t impact the unit price paid for their fruit.

Patty Skinkis is a Professor and Viticulture Extension Specialist at Oregon State University. As a collaborator on the HiRes Vineyard Nutrition project, she organized and analyzed this survey. This article was excerpted from her original summary, "Nutrient Management Survey Helps Research Team Understand Current Industry Practices," published in October 2021 on the HiRes Vineyard Nutrition project website. Download the original.

See also this related story, “Research team working to update decades-old vineyard nutrition guidelines, improve grape tissue sampling,” published this month by WSU CAHNRS News.

The OIV Award, bestowed by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), recognizes works of reference in 12 categories, including viticulture and enology, new category “sustainable vitiviniculture,” and others. In addition to academic papers and journal articles, books and interactive digital tools are eligible for consideration, as well. The deadline for entries is February 28, 2022.

Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS), part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), will hold its annual Stakeholder Meeting virtually on November 18, 2021. Topics will include the agency’s revised biotech regulations and electronic permitting system, a review of fiscal year 2021, and discussion of FY 2022 priorities to protect plant health through the regulation of organisms developed using genetic engineering. Register to attend.

Specialty Crop Multi-State Program

The state agriculture agencies in Arizona, California, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin are now accepting applications from entities that are the lead on projects with multiple state partners for the 2021 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP). With awards ranging from $250,000 to $1 million per project, a total of nearly $10 million is available for these grants. All SCMP proposals must include at least two partners (referred to as "multi-state partners"), who must be located in two different states to qualify for the program. Applications are due November 4, 2021.

Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) invites farmers and growers in the region to submit proposals to to explore new concepts in sustainable agriculture through experiments, surveys, prototypes, on-farm demonstrations, or other research and education techniques. Proposals are due on November 16, 2021. Funded projects, capped at $30,000, will be announced in late February 2022.

The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) supports transformative research and education projects that develop new knowledge in all aspects of computing, communications, information science and engineering, and cyberinfrastructure across these core programs:

Proposals for small projects (up to $600,000; CCF, CNS and IIS) may be submitted anytime. Submissions for medium projects (up to $1.2 million; CCF, CNS and IIS) and OAC Core Projects (up to $600,000) are due by December 22, 2021.

The effects of climate change—rising temps, water availability, wildfires—are being felt in Washington, from the varieties grown and suitability of growing regions to the expression of the grapes and saleability of the resulting wine. “If you’re in agribusiness and you grow the same way as you did 20 years ago,” Greg Jones, climatologist and vintner is quoted, “you won’t be in business.”

October 5, 2021 │ WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources

A team from University of Milan analyzed the DNA of a Georgian V. vinifera cultivar, Mgaloblishvili, that's resistant to downy mildew, identifying three resistance loci and, for the first time ever in grapevine, a susceptibility gene. They also IDed the mildew's pathogenicity genes that trigger the plant immune system. The findings hold promise not only for breeding but also for target-specific fungicides.

According to a survey by satellite services provider Inmarsat, the use of internet-connected agricultural tools has grown. Among ag respondents, 80% say they've fully deployed at least one IoT project, and the remaining 20% plan to deploy some form in the next two years. IOT is "any technology that connect(s) some form of data from field to platform—anything from autosteer to precision farming to a weather or motion sensor,” says a company rep. “The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of IoT.”

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