California Ag Network

Category: Grape Industry

  • UC IPM’s Farrar Briefs Legislatores on Threats to California Winegrapes

    Sacramento, Calif., (November 13, 2017) – Recent surveys in the North Coast have found that 90 percent of the powdery mildew samples collected were resistant to strobulurin fungicides, the director of UC Integrated Pest Management Program told legislators at a joint hearing of the California Assembly and Senate Select Committees on California’s Wine Industry. A potential solution is breeding winegrapes to be resistant to powdery mildew, but a drawback is that the wine industry is largely known for its varietals.

    Jim Farrar, left, updated legislators on pests and diseases that pose a threat to California wine grapes.

    “Professor Andy Walker at UC Davis has succeeded in crossing winegrapes with a wild grape species that is naturally resistant to powdery mildew and then crossing the offspring back to the parent winegrape variety for several generations,” said James Farrar, who was invited to speak at the committees’ informational hearing on “Fire Recovery and Pest Management Awareness” at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 7.

    In addition to powdery mildew, he also talked about red blotch virus, which was relatively recently identified in California, and grapevine leafroll associated virus and the mealybug species that transmit the virus. Bob Wynn from the California Department of Food and Agriculture gave an update on Pierce’s disease and its vector glassy-winged sharpshooter.

    Farrar warned the legislators of increased human health risks due to “unintended consequences of social pressure” on the herbicide glyphosate, which growers use to control weeds under grapevines rather than tilling the soil, to comply with Natural Resources Conservation Service and Salmon Safe guidelines.

    Powdery mildew symptoms shown on cabernet sauvignon grapes.

    “Recent social pressure resulting from the International Agency for Research on Cancer labeling glyphosate a probable human carcinogen and news stories indicating detection of glyphosate in wine have caused some growers to look at other herbicides,” Farrar said. “The other choices are glufosinate, which is more risky to applicators, less effective, and more expensive, and paraquat, which has similar price and effectiveness, but much greater risk to applicators. Paraquat is a restricted-use pesticide that is highly toxic to humans – 3 teaspoons will kill an adult. It has a higher risk ‘Danger’ label in contrast to the lower risk ‘Caution’ label for glyphosate.

    “This is an increased risk to human health as a result of misplaced public perception of risk.”

    Farrar closed his comments by saying, “The County Agricultural Commissioners and county-based University of California Cooperative Extension advisors are vital in the continued efforts to manage winegrape pests and diseases. They are the frontline support for growers and pest control advisers in this effort.”

    To read the full transcript of Farrar’s comments, visit http://ucanr.edu/files/273433.pdf. His handouts on grape pest management are at http://ucanr.edu/files/273434.pdf.

  • Attend the Sonoma Grape Expo on Nov. 10

    American Vineyard Magazine is pleased to invite grape growers and vineyard consultants to attend the Sonoma Grape Expo coming on November 10th.  This FREE bi-ennial Expo will feature an industry trade show, educational grower seminars, and state of wine grape industry addresses by Jeff Bitter from Allied Grape Growers and Todd Azevedo from the Ciatti Company.  The USDA-Farm Service Agency and NRCS will also be onsite to answer questions and accept applications for Wildfire Disaster A complimentary breakfast and Tri-Tip lunch will be served.  3 hours of Continuing Education Credits for Private Applicators & PCAs, and 4.5 hours for CCAs have been approved.  The Sonoma Grape Expo will be held at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.   Learn more about the Sonoma Grape Expo and pre-register here.

  • Sun-Maid Growers Announce New CEO

    Kingsburg, Calif., (November 2, 2017) – The Sun-Maid Board of Directors is pleased to announce the selection of Mr. Harry Overly to lead Sun-Maid as its president and CEO effective October 31. Mr. Overly replaces Barry F. Kriebel who has served as Sun-Maid’s president since February 1986.

    “The Sun-Maid Board wants to thank Barry Kriebel for his leadership which has guided Sun-Maid’s success for nearly 32 years, and we wish Barry and his wife Pam the very best for their future,” said Jeffrey Jue, chairman of the Sun-Maid board. “The Sun-Maid Board of Directors has been working deliberately and carefully during the last eight months to recruit the best candidate to lead Sun-Maid into the future and we are delighted with Harry as our selection.”

    Harry Overly most recently served as the CEO of North America for Deoleo, the seller of the largest olive oil brands in the world and best known in the United States for Bertolli olive oil. His passions for product innovation and brand connections have driven him throughout his nearly 20-year career through several consumer-packaged goods organizations spanning both the largest to some with an entrepreneurial/high growth focus.

    “I’m thrilled to be working with such an iconic brand with an incredible heritage. I look forward to joining the Sun-Maid team and connecting with all the employees, growers, and families to lead our next phase of growth,” said Overly.

    Prior to joining Deoleo, Mr. Overly was Chief Customer Officer of TreeHouse Foods, the largest private label focused food manufacturer in the United States with sales of approximately $7 billion, and crafted the consultative model to work with the country’s leading retailers to refine their brand portfolios via innovation, merchandising, and product design. While at TreeHouse, he held several positions, including SVP of Marketing over 30 product categories, with examples such as snack mixes, beverages, soups, and salad dressings. He is best known for leading the development and execution of company’s successful single serve coffee business as well as deploying key brand management strategies throughout the company’s product innovation pipelines.

    Prior to joining TreeHouse, Harry worked at Kraft Foods, the Wm. Wrigley Jr Co, and BestSweet, Inc, holding various positions between brand management and global innovation leading major brands like Extra and “5” Gum. He was co-leader of the “5”

    Gum brand proposition at Wrigley and led this brand from the concept level to full commercialization to what is today’s largest gum brand.

    Harry holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in addition to some graduate-level business education at the University of Chicago. Harry, and his wife, Cristina, will be relocating from Dallas, Texas, to the Fresno area within the coming months and are both excited to join the Sun-Maid family.

    Founded in 1912, Sun-Maid Growers of California is the world’s largest producer and processor of raisins and other premium quality dried fruits with sales of $360 million. Sun-Maid’s products are approximately half “Sun-Maid” retail consumer products and half ingredient products for such items as cereals, breads, and a variety of other food products. Located in Kingsburg, California in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley’s raisin producing district, Sun-Maid products are distributed throughout the United States and in more than 50 countries.

    For more information about Sun-Maid Growers, visit www.sunmaid.com.

    Source: Sun-Mad Growers of California, Press Release, October 26, 2017

     

  • Tree & Vine Expo, Nov. 7th

    November has come and growers & PCAs are anticipating the annual Tree & Vine Expo on November 7th at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, held by American Vineyard, California Fresh Fruit, and Pacific Nut Producer Magazines.  The Expo will feature educational grower seminars, and state of the grape, nut, and tree fruit industry addresses by Jennifer Williams from the California Walnut Board, Kelly Covello from the Almond Alliance of California, Amy Uber for the California Department of Food & Agriculture, and Erica Moyer from Turrentine Brokerage.  A complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided.  The expo provides a great environment for the industry to get together, celebrate the harvest, enjoy some good food, gain continuing education credits and network at an industry trade show with over 130 vendors. DPR has approved 4 hours of PCA credits for the expo, including 1 hr of Laws & Regs. Five hours of CCA credits have also been approved (1.5 hr Soil & Water Management, 1.5 hr IPM, 1.5 hr Crop Management, 1 hr Professional Development).  Registration is FREE and will begin at 7:00 a.m., and the meeting will conclude at 2 p.m.  Learn more about the Tree & Vine Expo and pre-register here.

  • Mealybug Management – In or Out of Sync

    UC IPM Advisor David Haviland recently shared some tips on mealybug control. The goal is to lower mealybug populations, prevent movement, protect the cluster and keep the vines compatible for biocontrol (especially postharvest). Some insecticides effective against vine mealybug include: Chlorpyrifos (delayed-dormant treatment), Buprofezin (best against crawlers), Spirotetramat (foliar applied/systemic in the phloem and xylem), and Neonicotinoids (some soil, some foliar applied).

    Moving into 2018, Haviland recommended growers and PCAs consider how temperature and weather impacts pest populations. “Insect development is often driven by temperature,” he said. “When the temperatures are higher, the mealybugs are more active and develop more quickly. In some springs, temperatures gradually warm up over time, and mealybug development is fairly synchronized. This allows growers to use products or growth regulators geared toward controlling the crawler stage in the spring, and they are very effective when the insects are synchronized in their development stage.”

    “But in other years, early season temperatures vary from warming up to cold again with inconsistent weather patterns, and this confuses the pest as they start to develop. This puts them out of synchronization as far as development, leading to all stages of the pest present at the same time in the vineyard. In such a case using a pesticide that goes after one stage of the pest will be much less effective.”

    As we never know what the weather will bring, growers and PCAs need to pay close attention to weather patterns and spring mealybug populations to determine the most effective IPM approach to take for successful mealybug management.

    David Haviland to speak at Malcolm Media’s Annual Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo

    Haviland will be presenting his latest research on vine mealybug management through mating disruption technology with sprayable pheromone at the annual Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo coming up on November 14th at the Big Fresno Fairgrounds. The expo will run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Haviland’s presentation will begin at 10:30 a.m. Growers and PCAs are invited to attend with free admission. Don’t miss Haviland’s presentation, the many other informative grower seminars that will take place.  Pre-register for the expo here.

    -By Matthew Malcolm, American Vineyard Magazine

  • Ag Students Learn to Bottle Wine

    Ag Students at Reedley College Learn how to bottle wine for the first time.

    The Plant and Soil Science program at Reedley College offers a wide variety of courses that lead to an Associates of Science Degree or Certification. Students enrolled in a plant and soil science course have the opportunity to engage in numerous industry experiences, including: wine making, field trips to local packing facilities and hearing from Ag industry speakers throughout the school year. The Plant & Soil Science program also provides job opportunities during the school year and the summer. Students in the Program run and operate equipment on the campus farm.

    Photo by Matthew Malcolm, American Vineyard Magazine

  • Don’t Miss the Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo at the Fresno Fairgrounds

    Don’t miss the annual Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo coming to the Big Fresno Fairgrounds on November 14th, put on by American Vineyard, California Fresh Fruit, and Pacific Nut Producer Magazines.  The Expo will feature educational grower seminars, and state of the grape, nut, and tree fruit industry addresses by Gary Schulz of the Citrus Research Board, Ian LeMay of the California Fresh Fruit Association, Cindy Plummer of the California Table Grape Commission, Nat DiBuduo of Allied Grape Growers, Barry Kriebel of Sun-Maid Growers, Richard Matoian of American Pistachio Growers, Jon Field of the Walnut Bargaining Association, Mark Hendrixson of the California Pecan Growers association and Kelly Covello of the Almond Alliance of California.  A complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided.  These shows provide a great environment for the industry to get together, celebrate the harvest, enjoy some good food, get five hours of educational credits and have a great time.  Registration is FREE and will begin at 7:00 a.m., and the meeting will conclude at 2 p.m.  Learn more about the Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo and pre-register at AgExpo.biz.

  • Wildfire Recovery Resources Listed on CDFA Web Page

    Sacramento, Calif., (October 26, 2017) – With thousands of Californians suffering devastating losses due to recent wildfires, CDFA is offering a web page with resources for recovery.

    Included is a program from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) for individual assistance to those who have lost their jobs during the fires, in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sonoma and Yuba counties. This is federal assistance administered by EDD that provides temporary unemployment benefits to people whose jobs or work hours were directly impacted by the fires.

    The USDA has multiple agencies that provide financial and/or technical assistance to help farmers, ranchers and rural landowners recover from natural disasters such as wildfires. The web page contains information about programs from the Farm Service Agency, the Risk Management Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Rural Development agency.

    Additionally, expertise and assistance on particular subjects (e.g. re-seeding, erosion & flooding, livestock, salvage logging, or reforestation) may be available through local or regional University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Extension offices.

    The page also includes a link to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services for a roster of local assistance centers as well as information about debris removal.

    Link to CDFA wildfire resources web page

     

  • Lessons to be Learned From Northern California Fires

     

    A wind-driven fire glows ominously over homes in Sonoma County in October 2017. Photo by Adam Giusti

    Lakeport, Calif., (October 26, 2017) – It’s Deja Vu all over again 
- Yogi Berra

     

    Once again I’m asked to provide some perspective on yet another catastrophic situation affecting the North Coast. In 2015, it was the Valley Fire. In 2016, it was the Clayton Fire. This year there are so many fires I’m having difficulty recalling their names…14 at last count.

    The cause for these 2017 conflagrations will be apparent once the elements of the fires are assessed. Tornadic winds hitting 50 mph Sunday, October 8, will most likely have started most if not all. Winds of this intensity can ignite fires by impacting electrical infrastructure by breaking lines and causing transformers to explode. The cause of the fires will come out in time. Thick stands of vegetation, the result of mid-20th century land management practices, years of fire suppression, homes built in rural locations in steep terrain, old legacy roads too small to accommodate modern fire-fighting equipment, and exurban development without the necessary resources to address fire prevention. All this leads to almost impossible conditions to arrest a fire being pushed by wind.

    I would argue there is no better fire-fighting force in the world than those found in California. What these men and women do is nothing short of extraordinary. But they are faced with an impossible task in the absence of an equally focused program of fire prevention.

    Cobb Mountain after the Valley Fire burned more than 76,000 acres in 2015. UC Cooperative Extension helped replant the area with ponderosa pine seedlings.

    What have I learned from Lake County as a result of the Valley and Clayton fires?

    The Lake County fires have provided insights that can help with the recovery and reconstruction of the most recent events. Specifically, resources must be secured to assist landowners and communities in better incorporating fire resilience into local rural and suburban planning and projects, to prepare for the eventuality of another fire by creating and maintaining conditions that allow the fire to be controlled before getting out of hand. Admittedly, the recent fires were wind-driven events that became uncontrollable. However, these fires are the exception to the rule. There are hundreds of fires a year in California that are quickly controlled and extinguished. Fire resiliency must incorporate plans and projects that can address less catastrophic conditions, in the hopes of arresting a fire before it becomes a conflagration.

    Other aspects for communities to consider when addressing fire resiliency may include fire-fighting equipment scaled to accommodate old, rural roads, resources to retrofit old roads to accommodate evacuees and first responders, and rural lands with poor or non-existent internet service need to re-establish fire sirens to alert residents of impending danger. Local statutes need to establish and enforce vegetation management standards on absentee parcels. And, finally, a sustained dialogue addressing fire resiliency must be incorporated into all land-use planning discussions to help landowners recognize and implement actions to help reduce the risk of catastrophic fire.

    Fire-fighting equipment may need to be scaled to accommodate old, narrow rural roads to improve fire response.

    None of this will be easy or inexpensive. But neither is fighting hundreds of thousand acres of wildland fires every year.

    Admittedly, the weather conditions responsible for these fires may negate the best plans and efforts. But again, those conditions are the exception to the rule.

    For every acre burned this year there are ten more, in the same condition, that didn’t, providing next year’s opportunity for a conflagration. The road forward to address California’s wildland fire threat is long, and full of twists and turns. But as with all long journeys, each begins with the first step.

    Greg Giusti is a UC Cooperative Extension advisor emeritus specializing in forests and wildlands ecology.

  • Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation Establishes Housing Support for Ag Workers Displaced by Fires

    Santa Rosa, Calif., (October 23, 2017) – With firefighters gaining control of fires throughout Sonoma County, the Grape Growers Foundation (SCGGF) announced today it is partnering with the Sonoma County Farm Bureau to establish a housing recovery fund for ag workers and their families who were displaced from their homes by last week’s devastating fires.

    The fund will serve to assist ag workers who lost their homes in the fires by helping to fund the re-establishment of new households.

    “Obviously, the fires have impacted everyone who lives in Sonoma County in a variety of ways and for our ag workers, the impact was particularly severe. Knowing that a home provides a family with stability and comfort, we are committed to getting all of our displaced ag employees into temporary housing as quickly as possible,” said Karissa Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers, who is also serving as the executive director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation.

    The fund has benefited from initial investments from local grape growers and supporters including $25,000 from the John Jordan Foundation and Jordan Vineyard & Winery and $25,000 from American Ag Credit.

    “Fortunately, the Grape Growers Foundation was established years ago to improve the lives of Sonoma County’s agricultural employees and their families while ensuring Sonoma County remains a place where agricultural workers will continue to live and work,” said Kruse. She added, “While the Foundation is taking a long-term focus on ag employee housing, we need a short term solution now due to the extent of this calamity.”

    For anyone interested in contributing to the housing fund, visit: www.scggf.org to make a contribution. SCGGF is a 501(c)(3) organization.