Completed Project Report


Managing Risk Through a System Approach to Concord Grape Productivity and Fruit Quality

  • Award Amount: $41,023
  • Regional Center: Northeast Extension Risk Management Education Center
  • Grant Program: 2013 Unrestricted Risk Management Education
  • Project Director: Tim Weigle
  • Email: thw4@cornell.edu
  • Organization: Cornell University

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Project Overview



This project was created to meet the need for Concord grape growers to develop new vineyard
management plans, complete with marketing plans and strategies, to meet new quality standards of grape processors in the Lake Erie region of New York and Pennsylvania. The new quality standards, combined with the closing of an area processor and contract cancellations by another, created a teachable moment for growers to examine the economics of implementing a “whole system” approach of current research-based inputs into their vineyard management strategies
including; 1) GPS-sensor technology, 2) GIS mapping of vineyards, 3) mechanization of vineyard practices, 4) using web-based resources to manage inputs for pests and 5) marketing. While the majority of participants did not implement all the new strategies available to them, they used information from the project where it provided the largest return on investment. GIS mapping was the largest success of the project as the program partnered with National Grape Cooperative to create maps for 356 growers, representing 21,870 acres, in New York and Pennsylvania.  Having a GIS map provided participants the ability to fully implement any of the remaining strategies of
the whole system approach.

Number of Participants: 355

Outcomes

Project Steps

PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

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EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

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REPORTS & EVALUATIONS

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DELIVERY AREA

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INDIVIDUAL STORIES / EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS / QUOTES