The impact of this project is two fold. The first is addressing the educational needs of bulk grape (juice and wine) growers of New York and Pennsylvania in maximizing profitability through production efficiency and/or diversification into wine grapes for the small winery market.
The second impact is to produce educational materials for individuals looking into becoming wine grape growers. These materials will be packaged into a CD/DVD that can be provided as a reference that will provide answers to the questions that should be asked prior to purchasing land or putting a vine in the ground as well as providing linkage to web-based information for more in-depth topics as their viticultural knowledge grows.

Approximately 40,000 acres of grapes are grown by 900 growers in the grape growing regions of New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. Ninety percent of this acreage consists of bulk juice and bulk wine varieties.
Producers of bulk juice and wine grapes have found the market to be volatile over the past 5 years. Using ‘Concord’, the predominate variety as an example: prices have ranged from a high of $205 to a low of $145 per ton. According to the Lake Erie Grape Farm Cost Survey 2001 – 2005 (Shaffer and White) the average cost of production per acre is $1663 with an average yield of 6.4 tons per acre. Using these figures, an average farm would need to receive approximately $260/ton to break even. Bulk grape growers in New York and Pennsylvania have typically responded to lower prices by trying to maximize yields through increased bud number. This can lead to over cropping which can result in high and low crops in successive years as well as denser canopies which affects vine nutrition and water relations as well as being detrimental to insect, disease and weed management. There are three audiences that will be reached with this project.
1) Bulk juice and wine grape growers who want to remain bulk juice or wine grape growers.
2) Bulk juice and wine grape growers who want to diversify their vineyard operation with the addition of wine grapes for the small winery market.
3) Individuals who are new to the grape industry with little or no vineyard or ag experience

A number of production practices have been developed by Cornell and Penn State researchers and implemented by the more progressive commercial ‘Concord’ growers. Yield Management, Mechanized Pruning, Mechanized Thinning, Insect and Disease Management and Record Keeping by Block are examples of the practices that will be used for the initial set of three minute videos and worksheets for those who want to remain with bulk varieties but need the information to determine the risk of implementing new practices. Existing growers who consistently make a profit producing ‘Concord’ and other bulk juice/wine grapes have been identified and the experiences of these growers will be highlighted in the production of educational materials for maximizing production efficiency.
Videos and worksheets are also being developed for existing growers looking to plant more profitable, yet riskier, wine grape varieties for sale to the small wineries in the area. While it may seem obvious that existing growers would have the knowledge necessary to grow any variety of grape, subtle to major differences in Site Selection, Pruning and Training systems, Integrated Pest Management Strategies, Floor Management and Nutrition, would suggest that some intermediate educational materials would greatly assist growers in determining if a move to a more intensive, higher skill level type of grape production is worth the risk.

This is the first year of a two year project with the first year having a heavy focus on collection of video for the production practices identified by those involved in the New York and Pennsylvania grape industry.
Numerous first cuts of video have been produced representing the following practices:
1) Scouting
2) Pheromone trap assembly and use
3) Crop Estimation in ‘Concord’
4) Crop Thinning
5) Soil and Petiole Testing
6) Vineyard Nutrition
7) Vineyard Mapping
These videos are being made available to members of the grape industry to gather input on the quality, quantity and usefulness of the content. We continue to collect interviews from growers who have implemented the practices as well as appropriate extension and research staff to put a face with the practice. One of the goals of the project is to come up with a three minute introductory video that can be used as a gateway to more extensive video clips as well as more in-depth information linked to publications, fact sheets and economic worksheets.
The impacts from this project are still to come as the videos and supporting materials are completed and compiled and made available to growers and extension offices across the state.