PORTLAND, N.Y. — The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is excited to be able to host 2 more events in the Winter Grower’s Conference series for grape growers. The series is a hybrid of virtual and in-person events designed to give growers access to recent research being done that can be applied in vineyard practices. The first meeting was held virtually on December 9th.
The next meeting to be held will be a virtual Zoom event on Thursday, February 9th from 10:00AM until 12:00 noon. Justine Vanden Heuvel will join us first, she is a Professor of Viticulture at Cornell University. In addition to teaching the upper level viticulture course, she leads a research program that has been studying bioinoculants for several years. Her focus for this meeting is reporting on an industry inspired study on agricultural bioinoculants containing fungi and/or bacteria which represent a potential opportunity to reduce the dependence of grapevines on agrochemicals. Our own Kevin Martin, the LERGP Business Management Specialist, will follow her talk with information about current integrated approaches to fertilizer management and their costs. There are no pesticide credits available at this meeting.
The final event of the series is our in-person 2023 Grape Growers’ Winter Conference to be held on Thursday, March 16th at the SUNY Fredonia Williams Center, SUNY Fredonia Campus. This will be a full day from 8AM to 4:30PM and will feature speakers from Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, NYS Integrated Pest Management Program, and Penn State University. In addition, there will be vendors available to talk with and learn about what is available. As always, a delicious lunch is included in the registration fee. Pesticide credits are available.
To learn more about either event, to see registration and cost options, and to register you can visit https://lergp.cce.cornell.edu/event.php?id=563#.
–Cornell Cooperative Extension Chautauqua County