- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A welcome sign of spring each year for grape producers is budbreak, the moment when tiny buds on the vine start to swell and green leaves appear. Budbreak varies by region, variety and even vineyard topography, but in Sonoma County, unseasonably warm weather caused buds to burst early, reported Bill Swindell in the Press-Democrat.
“Perhaps it's the new normal,” said Jen Walsh, the winemaker at La Crema Winery in the Russian River Valley, commenting about long-term change due to global warming.
The Carneros region that borders San Pablo Bay is typically the first wine appellation to experience bud...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Within 20 years, 42,000 acres of new vines could be needed to meet growing U.S. wine consumption, Western Farm Press reported Jim Lapsley, UC Davis professor emeritus of ag economics, said at the “Outlook and Issues for the World Wine Market” symposium sponsored by the UC Agricultural Issues Center in late June.
But recently, cheaper wine imports have been spurring growers to replace grapevines with more profitable crops, notes reporter Harry Cline. In the Central Valley, wine grape plantings declined from 190,000 acres in 2001 to 157,000 in 2008.
“Using UC crop budgets, wine grapes are netting only $80...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
At a press conference in Fresno Wednesday, the Natural Resources Conservation Service announced a $1 million cost sharing program to help combat European grapevine moth in California.
The support will cover half the cost of voluntary, environmentally friendly control options, according to the NRCS press release. The pest control strategies, the release said, were developed and approved for use over the past five years by NRCS and the University of California Cooperative Extension. The cost of the treatment is about $208 per acre; NRCS will provide $104 per...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner Carol Hafner held a news conference yesterday to outline efforts to combat European grapevine moth after three were detected last week in Fresno County. The ag commissioner's office has been monitoring thousands of traps in the county as part of a statewide program to detect the invasive pest.
On April 28, the officials confirmed that two European grapevine moths were found in separate traps about a half mile apart in vineyards southeast of the city of Fresno. On May 1, one moth was found in a trap in the Kingsburg area.
Grape production is the No. 1 ag industry in Fresno County, with an annual value of more than $700...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A group of UC scientists traveled to Chile recently to see firsthand vineyard damage caused by the European grapevine moth, according to an article in the Fresno Bee. The moth has been detected in California's Napa County, and is being actively tracked in the valley to determine whether the infestation has spread.
European grapevine moth was discovered three years ago in Chile. Because the pest develops from larvae to moth at a crucial time in the grape's growth cycle, its effects can be devastating.
"They have lost whole vineyards in Chile; not one grape was picked," UC entomologist
