March 2022
Cane vs. spur pruning in table grapes*
TIME FOR RESEARCH
Time is a hot topic in March, when dark-weary Americans spring our clocks forward. The longer days yield more time for productivity, feeding our inclination to DO, to amass results in shorter spans. Four-day work-weeks, anyone?

Some things, though, can’t be rushed. Research takes time. But some research calls for more than most.

For example: Occasionally, in conversations about research needs, someone (often a geneticist or grape breeder) waxes poetic about the value of having a vineyard of mutant grape varieties, created by "blasting" young plant material with radiation to see what traits would emerge that could be useful in developing new varieties with novel resistance or tolerance to emerging and evolving threats. I can't even imagine how large such a vineyard would be, how much it would cost to plant and maintain it, and who would do all that work and for how long.

Then there are the discussions that unfold around soil health research. There's a reason that expressions like "old as dirt" become common: they're true! Any worthwhile investigation of soil science takes time—and lots of it. In a research paradigm that's commonly metered in four- to six-year grants, how do you even begin to tackle any meaningful study of soil—how it's affected by the greater (and changing) environment and how it, in turn, affects the perennial plants like grapevine growing there for the next 30 years or more?

Research is a long game. And while not all science requires the kind of epic explorations the examples above demand, there is a need to be able to support such studies. The Research Focus article below is a great example of a long-term (10 years!) project that’s delivering critical new knowledge to grape growers. Another is the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service's growing Long-Term Agro-ecosystem Research (LTAR) network. There, government scientists are developing strategies for the sustainable intensification of agricultural production as “our natural resources, environmental health, and available arable land decline and climate changes.” These are models for the long-haul research needed to address some of our most critical issues.
Pursuing scientific solutions to problems that span beyond our current horizon takes vision, commitment…and faith. But if nearly 333 million Americans can be persuaded to set their clocks forward for Daylight Saving Time in mid-March every year, surely anything is possible!
*About the photo
This two-photo image, courtesy of the California Table Grape Commission, shows examples of budbreak on cane-pruned (top) and spur-pruned (bottom) table grape vines in California's San Joaquin Valley. Shoots have emerged in table grape vineyards across the valley. 
Donnell Brown
President

AROUND THE INDUSTRY
BIG NEWS: Announcing the NGRA Fellowship
NGRA is excited to announce the launch of our new NGRA Fellowship! Designed to further the work of aspiring Ph.D. students in grape-related science supporting the NGRA research priorities, the NGRA Fellowship is a competitive award of $30,000 per year for three years, conferred on one doctoral student in 2022. In addition to the monetary contribution for student tuition and/or fees, the award includes mentorship, field tours and networking with our Board of Directors throughout the three-year term. It is our hope that, by providing support in the early stages of a promising grape scientist’s career, we’ll spark a relationship that will last a lifetime. Applications are due June 3, 2022. Winner will be notified/announced the week of July 18, 2022. Learn more and apply.
Registration Closing: ASEV-NGRA Precision Viticulture Demo Day
NGRA and our colleagues at the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) are excited to bring you the ASEV-NGRA Precision Viticulture Demo Day on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, in person in California’s Salinas Valley! Join us to see advances in precision viticulture technology come to life. Visit three early-adopting grape growers and one of the country’s top row crop operations where cutting-edge technology and service providers will demonstrate precision techniques in action. Demos will feature mechanized, autonomous and robotic tools, as well as sensors, decision support systems and more. Thanks to funding from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, tickets start at just $50 for NGRA and ASEV members. Registration closes Monday, April 4, and the event is nearly sold out. Register now!
Registration Is Now Open for NVEELC 2022
The next National Viticulture and Enology Extension Leadership Conference (NVEELC) is scheduled for August 14-17, 2022, in California's San Joaquin Valley—the largest, most diverse viticulture production area in the U.S. And registration is open now! Organized and hosted by UC Cooperative Extension with support from NGRA, NVEELC 2022 is timed later this year to offer an extraordinary opportunity to tour raisin, table grape and wine vineyards, and postharvest and production facilities—including Gallo’s massive Livingston Winery—at the start of harvest. Join with other extension and outreach specialists for professional development, best-practice sharing, research and regional reports, collaboration and dialogue on the unique challenges in V&E extension in America. Get complete details, including the agenda, sponsorships, travel scholarships and hotel accommodations, and get your ticket! Many thanks to event sponsors the California Table Grape Commission, E. & J. Gallo Winery and Sun-Maid Growers of California.
Federal Budget Lifts Ag Research
Upon the submission this week of the President’s Budget for fiscal year 2023, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack issued a statement detailing the benefits to the USDA and its mission. As it relates to research, the proposed budget “position(s) the United States to be a leader in agricultural research. It will also help many of USDA’s agencies rebuild capacity after years of staff losses,” the Secretary said. He calls out the $1.177 billion in funding to address climate change across private, working agricultural land, including $1 billion to support ag producers and landowners to undertake conservation and climate-smart practices on their farms.
 
It should be noted that the President’s Budget is technically a Budget Request, as Michael Kaiser of WineAmerica, an NGRA member-organization, explains. “The administration sends the document to Congress as a guideline for the appropriations process, but Congress is under no obligation to adopt any of the numbers or proposals in the Budget Request,” he says. “Congress may either decrease or increase the funding for certain programs and agencies, at their discretion.”

In related news, Congress passed the FY22 federal budget this month. The $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations package funds the federal government through September 30, 2022. It includes an additional $2 million for smoke exposure research.
NYWGF Unity Awards Honor NGRA Stakeholders
At the B.E.V. NY virtual conference this week, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF) announced the winners of its prestigious 2022 Unity Awards. All 10 honorees are pillars of New York’s grape and wine industry community, and three are science champions who are near and dear to NGRA’s collective heart:

  • Founding NGRA member John Martini of Anthony Road Wine Co. in the “fabulous Finger Lakes,” as he unfailingly says, was recognized with the Jim Trezise Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring individuals demonstrating a lifelong commitment to the New York wine and grape industry. Accordingly, John accepted the award via Zoom from Washington, DC, where he was lobbying for national grape research.
  • Jennifer Phillips Russo of the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program took this year’s Research Award. “As researchers, our goal is to provide our industry with integrated tools to improve management strategies,” she said, humbly adding, “Much of my work builds off of the incredible contributions of those honored before me.”
  • Tim Martinson, who retired earlier this year from Cornell University, was recognized with the Sustainability Award. Tim started work on vineyard sustainability at the beginning of his extension career in 1997. Early on, he created a set of Agricultural Environmental Management worksheets for vineyards that later became the foundation of the VineBalance NY Guide to Sustainable Vineyard Practices workbook.
ASEV Announces Its Best Paper Awards
Each year, the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) selects two papers—one in enology, one in viticulture—from those published in the society’s American Journal of Enology and Viticulture the prior year to receive the ASEV Best Paper Awards. The winning papers are deemed outstanding in their content and contribution to their respective fields, and are now freely available on AJEVOnline:

Cornell Seeks a Lecturer in Viticulture
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University welcomes applications for a Lecturer in Viticulture, a nine-month appointment to instruct in the Viticulture and Enology bachelor’s degree program starting in August 2022. The successful applicant will benefit from Cornell’s cutting-edge research and teaching resources; interactions with top faculty in viticulture, enology and other life sciences; teaching vineyards including plantings of V. vinifera, hybrid and native grapes; and new facilities for winemaking, brewing, distillation and fruit wine production, housed in the recently renovated Stocking Hall Food Science Building on the university’s Ithaca, NY, campus. Review of applications will begin April 11, 2022. Learn more and apply.
Washington Wine Industry Pros: Win a Sabbatical
The Washington Wine Industry Foundation is accepting applications for the 2022 Bill Powers Sabbatical. Employees of Badger Mountain Vineyard and Powers Winery developed the sabbatical in 2017 to honor their late owner, Bill Powers. The award of up to $5,000 goes to a Washington wine professional with at least five years' experience to take a study leave to learn about an aspect of winegrape growing and/or winemaking to further their professional career and benefit the industry. Applications are due by July 30, 2022. Learn more and apply.
RESEARCH FOCUS
LONG-TERM NEMATODE RESEARCH REAPS REWARDS
In the ASEV 2022 Best Viticulture Paper, Field Performance of Winegrape Rootstocks and Fumigation during Establishment of a Chardonnay Vineyard in Washington,” the prescient power of long-term research is on display—not only in awards, but in results.

The problem
Starting in 2014, before a different threat (phylloxera) was fully known in Washington’s own-rooted vineyards, a team of researchers—Katherine East (USDA-ARS, Washington), Inga Zasada (USDA-ARS, Oregon), Julie Tarara (Ste. Michelle Wine Estates [SMWE]), and Michelle Moyer (Washington State University, Prosser)—began to explore the use of rootstocks and fumigation as means of controlling plant-parasitic nematodes in vineyard replants.

In the early years of the Washington wine industry, grapes were planted on land that was not previously farmed, and nematodes caused few problems. But as the industry matures and vineyards are replanted or follow other crops, the danger of nematodes is becoming clear: acute vine decline within a few years of replanting, or chronic loss of vigor and yield in mature vineyards from years of nematode population buildup.

The key species of concern in Washington are dagger (X. americanum) and Northern root-knot (M. hapla) nematodes, to which Vitis vinifera are susceptible. Control after planting is very difficult because nematodes spend their lives underground, inside or near the roots. Due to the preponderance of own-rooted vines, using resistant rootstocks to manage nematodes has not been evaluated in Washington vineyards. The Washington State Grape and Wine Research Program, administered by the Washington Wine Commission, funded the bulk of this research and SMWE provided vineyard space and staff brainpower in hopes of finding a sustainable solution for replant problems.
 
The study
A long-term vineyard trial was established in 2014 to evaluate the effects of soil fumigation and rootstock genotype on M. hapla and X. americanum population dynamics and vine growth during vineyard establishment (first three years) in a replant scenario. Vines in an existing V. vinifera Chardonnay vineyard were first treated with foliar glyphosate that fall. Randomized areas within the vineyard were then either fumigated or not with drip-applied metam sodium. Following fumigation, vines were removed. In spring 2015, the vineyard was replanted to Chardonnay on the following rootstocks: 1103 Paulsen, 101-14 Millardet et de Grasset, Teleki 5C, and Harmony. Self-grafted and own-rooted Chardonnay were included.

Fumigation reduced M. hapla second-stage juvenile (J2) population densities in soil on own-rooted and self-grafted vines for only the first year post fumigation. One year post fumigation, the self-grafted and own-rooted vines had higher population densities of M. hapla J2 than rootstocks. All rootstocks supported measurable densities of M. hapla J2 but were poor hosts relative to V. vinifera. Fumigation effectively reduced population densities of X. americanum for up to 3.5 years. Fumigation also reduced early establishment pruning weights. Vines grown in fumigated areas had lower pruning weights through year 2, but rootstock was the bigger influence on pruning weights by year 3. Thus, the trial demonstrates that rootstocks have a more sustained impact on nematode reestablishment and subsequent vine health in a vineyard.

Looking ahead
With fumigation ruled out as an effective long-term strategy for suppressing nematodes, the time has come for rootstocks, it seems. But Washington Wine Commission's Melissa Hansen warns that the research, while promising, “reflects the reality that there are few silver bullets for controlling any pest. Findings from earlier phases of the nematode research indicate that several tactics will be needed to keep the soilborne pests in check.” After all, the research shows that these rootstocks are tolerant to nematodes but not necessarily resistant. As the 10-year project enters its final years, research outcomes will be shared at workshops, field days and webinars, she notes.
 
This article was adapted from these original sources:
 
ASEV-Eastern Section Seeks Abstracts
The American Society for Enology and Viticulture-Eastern Section (ASEV-ES) is accepting abstracts for presentations and posters to be given at its annual conference in Bloomington, MN, July 13-15, 2022. Abstracts are due April 15, 2022. Learn more and submit.
Funding Opportunities
Sharpen your pencils! These research funding programs have upcoming deadlines.
A collaboration of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), this grant program focuses on convergent research that transforms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic soil processes through advances in sensor systems and modeling. Projects will request three to five years of support with a total budget no less than $600,000 and no more than $1,200,000 per project. Deadline is April 14, 2022.

Through this new program, USDA will finance partnerships to support the production and marketing of climate-smart commodities via a set of pilot projects lasting one to five years. Two funding pools are available, now with extended deadlines:

  • First Funding Pool: Proposals from $5 million to $100 million, including large-scale pilot projects that emphasize the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production and include direct, meaningful benefits to a representative cross-section of production agriculture, including small and/or historically underserved producers. Deadline is May 6, 2022.
  • Second Funding Pool: Proposals from $250,000 to $4,999,999 are limited to particularly innovative pilot projects that place an emphasis on enrollment of small and/or underserved producers, and/or monitoring, reporting and verification activities developed at minority-serving institutions. Deadline is June 10, 2022.
 
The Foundational and Applied Science Program of USDA-NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) supports fundamental and applied research in six priority areas: plant health and production, and plant products; animal health and production, and animal products; food safety, nutrition and health; bioenergy, natural resources and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities. Deadlines are May 12, 2022, through November 17, 2022, depending on the program area.
IN THE NEWS
March 28, 2022 │ Lodi Winegrape Commission
In this blog post, Lodi viticulturist Stan Grant beautifully expresses the importance of vineyard floors: They “play pivotal roles, residing at the interface between the vineyard atmosphere and soil, and affecting them both.” Beyond simple weed control, he says, floor management plays a part in light, heat, air, water, root zone and soil management.

March 24, 2022 │ Wine Business Monthly
Scientists from USDA-ARS and Oregon State University studied nitrogen's effects on vine growth and fruit character of Chardonnay grapes, and whether adding nitrogen in the winery could replace applying it in the vineyard. The result? There’s no substitute for cultivating vines that draw nitrogen directly from the soil.

March 24, 2022 │ Western Farm Press
The Northern Nevada Demonstration Vineyard & Winemaking Network is a new partnership to advance the Nevada wine industry through practical guidance. Led by the University of Nevada, Reno College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources; its Experiment Station and Desert Farming Initiative; and the Nevada Grape Growers & Winemakers, it will demonstrate state-of-the-art commercial winegrape production and guide the region’s grape growers in applying learnings.

March 22, 2022 │ Capital Press
Two no-touch research vineyards show that even the most prized varieties, like Oregon pinot noir and Napa cabernet sauvignon, can be managed mechanically. Motivated by Oregon grapegrowers' increasing shortage of ag workers, viticulturist Alec Levin planted a 1.25-acre “no-touch” Pinot noir vineyard at the Oregon State University Southern Oregon Research & Extension Center. “Labor is as much of an existential issue as something like, say, lack of water,” Alec said. UC Davis’ Kaan Kurtural’s 40-acre “touchless” Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in Napa helped to demonstrate the viability of mechanical pruning, the “final hurdle” for vineyard mechanization.

March 21, 2022 │ Wine Enthusiast
Spotted lanternflies are at peak feeding in vineyards in August and September, at the start of harvest, when insecticides can't be sprayed. Enterprising vineyard managers are trying alternate strategies, such as introducing chickens this spring in hopes they “eat up pests in the nymph and larval stage before we have to contend with them as adults.”

March 18, 2022 │ Communications Biology
A team of researchers from Denmark and California analyzed soil samples from 200 vineyards on four continents to establish the basis for a global vineyard soil microbiome map. The study describes vineyard microbial communities worldwide and establishes links between vineyard locations and microbial biodiversity on different scales—between continents, countries and different regions within the same country—to illustrate a new dimension of terroir.
 
March 15, 2022 │ Wine Industry Network
The Hudson Valley Heritage Wine Project aims to create a commercial pathway for French-American hybrid and Hudson Valley heritage grapes—grapes that could be important for sustaining the wine industry as climate change threatens the viability of traditional vinifera varieties. The Project will release its first 625 cases in April, including varietal wines (Baco Noir, Chelois, Le Colonel and Burdin Noir), red blends (including Leon Millet, Foch, Chambourcin, SV 18-307, Bacchus, Clinton, Eumelan and Black Eagle) and white blends (including Sevyal Blanc, Vidal, Vignoles, Jefferson, Iona, Empire State, Croton and Verdelet).

March 11, 2022 │ WineTitles
Researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that the use of activated carbon fabric bags fitted to clusters prior to smoke events can prevent more than 95% of smoke uptake in grapes. The bags are fragile and prohibitively expensive to deploy. But, the scientists said, “These results demonstrate proof-of-concept, and we now hope to develop a more functional, cost-effective application for use in commercial vineyards.”

March 10, 2022 │ Western Farm Press
Mechanization and automation are being explored in table grape production. A recent time and motion study conducted on harvest activities is helping the industry understand the opportunities for mechanizing picking and packing tasks in the field. Another study on in-house packing is underway now, focused on identifying areas for potential automation. Autonomous carts outfitted with sensors are being tested to count clusters and detect ripe berries, and gentle-grip robotics may someday pick them.

March 9, 2022 │ This is Texas Wine: The Podcast
Justin Scheiner, assistant professor and extension viticulture specialist in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M, was featured on This Is Texas Wine: The Podcast. He explains the work the university's V&E research and extension team does, including helping growers combat Pierce's disease, which he calls the “major limiting factor for Texas wine.”

March 9, 2022 │ Good Fruit Grower
When it comes to the spotted lanternfly’s behavior, a pattern is emerging. As Rutgers University entomologist Anne Nielsen explains, SLF seems to stick to a hotspot for a few years, feeding from a broad range of plants (mostly grapevine), before spreading into nearby areas, which become the new hotspots. Does this movement indicate management efforts are working? Or that the pest has depleted its food source and moved to new feeding grounds? Research continues.

March 8, 2022 │ Wine Enthusiast
As the climate changes and Vitis vinifera proves too fragile for traditional growing regions, some winegrape growers are looking to hybrid grapes and their native parents as more stable choices, both to express terroir and respect the environment.

March 8, 2022 │ Good Fruit Grower
At the Washington State Grape Society meeting late last year, four grape growers shared their strategies to counteract the “heat dome” that settled over Washington in early summer 2021. They included increased advance irrigation, overhead sprinklers, fruit-zone shade netting and limited (or no) leaf thinning.
 
March 3, 2022 │ Wine Industry Network
As climate change brings spring frosts and wildfires and warmer temperatures in general, some grape growers see pruning as a way to hedge their bets against these threats.

March 2022 │ Missouri Botanical Garden
You’re sure to learn something new from this guide to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s “Grafting the Grape” exhibition. For example, flip to page 19 for this nugget: Allison Miller (Danforth Center, who helped put together the show) and her Vitis Underground research team have found that rootstock and irrigation affect variation in leaf shape. For example, irrigated plants have more circular leaves while water-deficient vines had deeply lobed leaves with jagged edges. Rootstock type can also alter mineral concentrations, berry skin tissue and grape production.

February 28, 2022 │ The New York Times
A report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that, with too little action by nations to protect cities, farms and coastlines, the dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of nature and humanity to adapt. In a related story, some climate scientists say they are “fed up and ready to go on strike.”

February 27, 2022 │ Wine Business Monthly
More than seven years since the first SLF quarantine went into effect in Pennsylvania, the pest can be found in 11 U.S. states, primarily in the east and edging into the midwest. But tens of millions of dollars—and countless hours of conference sessions—have been committed to researching SLF and much has been learned.

February 14, 2022 │ The Packer
In its first annual Global Harvest Automation Report, which included input from California table grape growers, Western Growers found that 65% of participating growers have invested in automation over the past three years, to the tune of $350K to $400K per grower. Spending was in preharvest and harvest assist activities, such as weeding, thinning, etc., and autonomous ground vehicles. Harvest automation itself remains limited due to the difficulty replicating the human touch in harvesting delicate crops.

October 26, 2021 │ Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory shows that, across the western US, where snowmelt is a significant source of ag water, snow water is expected to decline by 25% by 2050. Their modeling also shows that low-to-no snow conditions could become persistent in 35 to 60 years if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated.

December 2021 │ CDFA PD/GWSS Board
In a proof-of-concept strategy to generate strains of glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS) that break the transmission cycle of Pierce's disease, University of California scientists have used CRISPR technology to successfully alter GWSS genetics, in this case for eye color. The breakthrough sets the foundation for genetic control of the pest.
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 7, 2022
Stockton, CA

April 11, 2022
Geneva, OH

April 13, 2022
Salinas Valley, CA

April 20, 2022
Washington State Wine Commission:
Virtual event

April 26, 2022
Corvallis, OR

May 11, 2022
Santa Rosa, CA

May 17-18, 2022
Washington, DC

May 23, 2022
Faster, Cheaper, Better: Adventures and Applications in Grape and Wine Analyses
Davis, CA

June 19-22, 2022
San Diego, CA

June 26-29, 2022
Adelaide, Australia

Find all upcoming events on the NGRA website.

The monthly NGRA Update is provided as a service to the U.S. grape and wine industry.
If you're not a member of NGRA, please consider joining us.