Posts Tagged: Table Grapes
Grape Breeder, David Ramming Retires
After 38 years, David Ramming has retired from the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-Parlier, California, where he bred grapes for California’s raisin and fresh market industries. Starting in 1975, he replaced John Weinberger who had just released ‘Fiesta’, the first grape developed to replace ‘Thompson Seedless’; the primary raisin grape for 100+ years. Since 1995, David has introduced four raisin grapes that helped make mechanized harvest a reality. ‘DOVine’, which ripens 2-3 weeks earlier than ‘Thompson Seedless’ was the first to be grown by San Joaquin Valley growers over large acreages. Trained using quad cordons, it is a vigorous variety that needs a large overhead trellis to grow. His most recent release in 2001, ‘Selma Pete’, was named after the late L. Peter Christensen, a world renowned UC Cooperative Extension Specialist who worked closely with David in developing cultural practices for new varieties. ‘Selma Pete’ has become the most widely planted raisin grape to date from David’s program and is grown on both open gable and overhead trellis systems. Additionally, two Muscat flavored raisin grapes were released prior to ‘Selma Pete’.
A technique pioneered by David known as embryo rescue has greatly shortened the breeding timeline for seedless grape advancement. Embryo rescue allows for seedless by seedless crosses by removing the small seeds and placing them on a nutrient-rich media, which allows them to grow into viable plants. All of David’s raisin and table grape varieties have been developed using this novel technique, which also has benefited California’s private grape breeding programs.
David’s most recent work has focused on incorporating resistance to powdery mildew and Pierce’s disease. He has been working with colleagues to determine what North American grapes have resistance and then using them to improve his breeding lines. Using molecular markers to find the progeny that have disease resistance in them, he has shortened the screening time. Young plants grown in incubators has saved time and money by not having to grow plants out in the field for evaluations or trials
In retirement, David plans on spending more time with his family and grandkids.
D Ramming
UC ANR receives $840,000 to hire UCCE grape advisor
UC ANR will soon be hiring a UC Cooperative Extension term area advisor specializing in table grapes in Tulare, Kern and Kings counties. Thanks to an $840,000 gift from the California Table Grape Commission, the advisor position will be funded for six years by the $1.4 billion annual table grape industry.
"The UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor system is an integral part of the growth story of the table grape industry in California,” said Kathleen Nave, president of the California Table Grape Commission. "Continuing that growth is critical to the industry but also to the rural communities in which table grapes are grown. With this gift, the University will be able to expand its ability to help growers cope with challenges such as pests, diseases, water quality and quantity, and a host of known and unknown issues that could negatively impact the industry's ability to compete in a worldwide marketplace.”
The California Table Grape Commission-funded position will be headquartered in Tulare. UC ANR will also be hiring a UC Cooperative Extension area viticulture advisor who will be based in Kern County.
"This generous gift by the California Table Grape Commission will enable UC ANR to begin recruitment immediately,” said VP Barbara Allen-Diaz. "As state funding has dramatically decreased in recent years, private-sector support is becoming a critical component of funding important positions essential to the long-term health of agriculture throughout California.”
This new funding model will enable UC ANR to hire outstanding academics to continue to conduct research and deliver new knowledge that is critical to the sustainability of farmers and to California's future.
View or leave comments for ANR Leadership.
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
UC ANR receives $840,000 to hire UC Cooperative Extension grape advisor
"The UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor system is an integral part of the growth story of the table grape industry in California,” said Kathleen Nave, president of the California Table Grape Commission. "Continuing that growth is critical to the industry but also to the rural communities in which table grapes are grown. With this gift, the University will be able to expand its ability to help growers cope with challenges such as pests, diseases, water quality and quantity, and a host of known and unknown issues that could negatively impact the industry's ability to compete in a worldwide marketplace.”
The California Table Grape Commission-funded position will be headquartered in Tulare. UC ANR will also be hiring a UC Cooperative Extension area viticulture advisor who will be based in Kern County.
"This generous gift by the California Table Grape Commission will enable UC ANR to begin recruitment immediately,” said Barbara Allen-Diaz, University of California vice president for Agriculture and Natural Resources. "As state funding has dramatically decreased in recent years, private-sector support is becoming a critical component of funding important positions essential to the long-term health of agriculture throughout California.”
This new funding model will enable UC ANR to hire outstanding academics to continue to conduct research and deliver new knowledge that is critical to the sustainability of farmers and to California's future.
Table grape testing in the Kearney sensory laboratory
Preparing to conduct sensory testing of table grapes is Zilfina Rubio, a junior specialist in the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center lab of Mary Lu Arpaia, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside.
At the behest of the Table Grape Commission, members of the public are visiting Kearney's sensory lab facility today to taste and evaluate grape selections from the USDA's table grape breeding program.
UC research will help table grape growers face the rainy season
Fidelibus, who is based at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, installed the covers in September on a Redglobe vineyard near Easton. Some farmers choose to grow late season table grapes – such as Autumn King, Crimson Seedless and Redglobe – to market in the fall when prices are typically highest. However, they run a greater risk of being rained on. Exposure to moisture within six weeks of harvest can cause rots and molds to render the grapes worthless.
Many growers with late-season table grapes cover their vines with sheets of plastic film to protect them from rain. Growers may choose between a relatively transparent green film, or a more opaque white film, but data distinguishing the differences the two films might have on vine physiology or fruit quality at picking, or after storage, are not available. Buying, installing and removing the plastic is very expensive, so Fidelibus is working to provide growers with objective information about the effects of the different films. Growers can track the progress of the trial in real time by following Fidelibus’ Twitter feed, http://twitter.com/grapetweets.
“In some places we found pools of water on the plastic covers,” Fidelibus said. “In fact, the weight of the water displaced the covers, exposing the vines in some places. A few pools apparently grew until reaching a vent hole, releasing a water stream powerful enough to wash soil from roots.”
After the storm, the soil under the covered vines remained dry, but wind and sun quickly dried the grape clusters and soil around uncovered vines.
Data loggers in the grapevine canopies are collecting temperature and humidity readings – measures that Fidelibus will use to help describe the effect of the different covers on the environment within the grapevine canopies. He also installed atmometers, special instruments that help determine the canopy’s “evaporative potential.” Research has already shown that the greater the evaporative potential, the lower the incidence of bunch rot.