News from Cornell's Viticulture and Enology Program, August 2021
RESEARCH FOCUS
Back-sweetened Wine and Apple Cider Inhibit Foodborne Pathogens (PDF)
In back-sweetened wine and apple cider, lower pH and higher alcohol reduce the risk of foodborne pathogens. Extending holding times can help ensure consumer safety.
GRAPES 101
How yield components vary
What distinguishes a 'heavy crop year' from an 'average' or 'small' crop year? Part of the answer is how different yield components combine to produce the final crop.
STUDENT FOCUS
Celebrating the Viticulture & Enology class of 2021
Three 2021 graduates reflect on their time at Cornell, share future plans and pass on wisdom to future V&E students.
EXTENSION FOCUS
Raising awareness in tasting rooms about Spotted Lantern Fly
Wineries can use tasting room visits to educate consumers about spotted lanternfly. Free outreach materials from New York State Ag & Markets can help.
RESEARCH IN PLAIN ENGLISH (RIPE)
- Using cell phones to obtain accurate prebloom cluster counts
Viticulturist Justine Vanden Heuvel and engineering professor Kirstin Peterson devise low-cost procedure to count clusters for crop estimation. - Determining which vegetative index is best for your vineyard
Tractor-mounted sensors use optical sensing to measure canopy fill. This study compared different combinations of wavelengths that comprise different "vegetative indexes".
NEWS BRIEFS
- NYS IPM program releases edition of the Cornell Organic Production and IPM Guide for Grapes
The 2021 Cornell Organic Production and IPM Guide for Grapes, edited by IPM fruit coordinator Juliet Carroll, has been released by the New York State IPM Program. - Facial recognition AI helps save multibillion dollar grape crop
This Cornell Chronicle article details collaboration between Cornell AgriTech engineer Dr. Yu Jiang and ARS scientist Lance Cadle-Davidson's lab to use machine learning and image analysis to streamline powdery mildew resistance phenotyping. - Improving grapevine breeding through robotic innovations
In this video, Dr. David Gadoury describes how the VitisGen2-developed 'Blackbird' robot is used by plant pathologists to evaluate powdery mildew resistance for breeding programs. - The wrath grows over grape data
This Good Fruit Grower article details how the USDA Agricultural Statistics Service pared back production surveys of several fruit crops starting in 2018. - Spotted Lanternfly threatens New York crops
This Cornell Chronicle article featured NYS IPM director Alexandro Calixto's visit to the lower Hudson Valley, where recent infestations of spotted lanternfly were recently detected.
FEATURED VIDEO
Bruce Reisch's virtual field tour of Cornell grape breeding efforts
This video is a 'virtual field tour' made for the North American Plant Breeders Association Annual Meeting, August 15-19, 2021