HiRes Vineyard Nutrition Podcast

Do grape cultivars have different responses to nutrients? Do we need to sample different tissues based on cultivar? Does the time of day matter for tissue sampling? In this episode, Dana Acimovic of Virginia Tech's Viticulture Team describes the research to address these questions. Podcast transcript and details are available at http://beav.es/5GD.

Foliar nitrogen application is one way wine grape growers can improve berry and must yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN). In this episode, Pierre Davadant, graduate research assistant in Dr. Markus Keller’s Lab at Washington State University, describes his research to trace the destination of nitrogen through grapevines, with a focus on foliar nitrogen applications. Listen to find out where nitrogen ends up! Podcast transcript and details are available at http://beav.es/5GD.

We know nitrogen is important for a healthy fermentation, but does the source of nitrogen matter? Should it be added in the vineyard or the winery? In this episode, Megan Mershon, graduate research assistant at Virginia Tech, describes research they are conducting to compare wine sensory response from nitrogen trials they’ve conducted in the HiRes Vineyard Nutrition Project. Podcast transcript and details are available at http://beav.es/5GD.

Working with crop specialists is important for precision ag tool development. In this episode, Dr. Manoj Karkee talks about his team’s collaboration with others in the HiRes Vineyard Nutrition Project to develop ground-based sensors for vineyard nutrients. He also talks about other projects to make farming more efficient, including shoot thinning and crop yield estimation. Podcast transcript and details are available at http://beav.es/5GD.

How far have we come in developing sensors for monitoring vineyard nutrition? In this episode, Dr. Alireza Pourreza, Associate Professor of UC Cooperative Extension, talks about his lab's research into nitrogen sensor development and the robust models they feed into that will be useful for farm decision-making. Podcast transcript and details are available at http://beav.es/5GD.

In this episode, we break the status quo and discuss alternative grapevine tissues being investigated for nutrient sampling. Dr. Nataliya Shcherbatyuk, post-doctoral researcher at Washington State University and the HiRes Team’s Project Manager, describes the research she conducted to understand the validity of other tissues in correlating with standard methods and how that project led to interesting findings about nutrient losses due to frosts and wind. Podcast transcript and details are available at http://beav.es/5GD.

Getting a representative tissue sample from the vineyard can be challenging without some prior information or knowledge of the vineyard property. In this episode, Manushi Trivedi, Cornell University PhD student, talks about the work they are doing to pin-point where to sample in as few locations as possible to best represent vineyard blocks in nutrient sampling. Podcast transcript is available at http://beav.es/5GD.

How are sensors developed for nutrient status detection? In this episode, Dr. Chenchen Kang, former Washington State University graduate student, describes how hyperspectral sensors are being developed to scan grapevine canopies to detect nitrogen status. Learn about the current successes in the research process and future endeavors. Podcast transcript is available at http://beav.es/5GD.

Did you ever wonder how much nitrogen grapevines takes up and when? In this episode, Tom Groenveld, former HiRes Vineayrd Nutrition project manager and post-doctoral scholar at Washington State University, describes a hydroponic nitrogen feeding study he conducted with Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines to address this question. Podcast transcript is available at http://beav.es/5GD.

What is the economic value of making good farm management decisions? In this episode, Alejandro Abarca, Graduate Research Assistant and PhD candidate at Oregon State University, describes research conducted to quantify economic value of vine nutrient management using grapevine tissue nutrition data and end-of-season yields to develop a model to help predict yield impacts in the future. Transcript is available at http://beav.es/5GD.

In this episode the microphone is flipped on our host, Dr. Patty Skinkis, HiRes Vineyard Nutrition Project Co-Director, who speaks about her path to viticulture research, Extension, and this project. She also speaks to the importance of sharing research results and developing communications streams to inform and build research that impacts industry. 

Podcast transcript is available at http://beav.es/5GD.

Vineyard nutrient management often focuses on nitrogen which is important for berry and must nitrogen that feed the fermentation. However, there is more that we need to learn about nitrogen in wine. In this episode, Dr. Amanda Stewart, Associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Virginia Tech, talks about her research to understand the components of nitrogen that lead to sensory impacts in wine and ciders.

Economic sustainability is important to all farm operations. How do we determine economic value of nutrient management in the context of the larger production system or into the future? Dr. John Woodill, Research Associate at Oregon State University’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, describes how econometric research explores farm production, yield, and climate data to understand the impact of mineral nutrition through models developed from and informed by that data.

What is required for sensor development? In prior episodes we heard from researchers describing what is possible with sensors using “off the shelf” technology. In this episode, we discuss fitting that technology for grapevines, which requires a lot of vineyard data. Learn about sensor development history and applicability for nutrient sensing from Dr. Qin Zhang, Professor of Agricultural Automation at Washington State University.

We return to the question of tissue nutrient sampling during this episode to explore how the classic petiole testing methods are being compared to new leaf sampling and testing at the individual and whole-canopy level in California table grape trials. Learn how viticulture and sensor research developments have the potential to build upon current methodology to inform future nutrient monitoring and management from Dr. Mathew Fidelibus, Extension Specialist, University of California – Davis.

Many growers believe that precision agriculture tools are either not necessary or not accessible due to cost or lack of economy of scale. Learn how sensor technology is being developed for nutrient tracking across vineyards of all sizes from Dr. Alireza Pourreza, agricultural engineer and Cooperative Extension Specialist at UC Davis.

Vineyard nutrient management varies by region and grape market. In New York, juice and wine grape vineyards are grown in different regions and have different production goals, both of which influence the grower’s nutrition monitoring and management. Learn more about how growers in these sectors manage nutrition from Dr. Justine Vanden Heuvel, Viticulture Professor at Cornell University.

Precision agriculture has been slow to make its way into vineyard production. The technologies seem too good to be true or out of reach for many growers. Dr. Terry Bates, Senior Research Associate and Director at Cornell AgriTech's Lake Erie Research and Extension Lab, describes his research to make precision tools accessible to growers, using the “measure, model, and manage” mantra.

A goal of the HiRes Vineyard Nutrition Project is to develop tools that make plant nutrient monitoring more efficient. How is this possible? Dr. Jan van Aardt, professor at Rochester Institute Technology (RIT), describes how sensors are being developed and tested in grape vineyards throughout the US.

Each year grape growers collect grapevine samples to send to an analytical lab to determine vine nutrient status. Traditionally petioles are collected, but researchers are encouraging leaf blade sampling. Learn from Dr. Paul Schreiner, Research Plant Physiologist with the USDA-Ag Research Service, the what, when, how and why of tissue sampling for monitoring and managing vineyard nutrition. 

At the helm of the High-Resolution Vineyard Nutrition Project is Director, Dr. Markus Keller, Professor of Viticulture at Washington State University. He describes how he became lead of the project and summarizes the challenges of managing vineyard nutrition in arid eastern Washington wine- and juice-grape vineyards.

The High-Resolution Vineyard Nutrition Project was borne out of a collaborative effort between grape and wine industry professionals, researchers, and the National Grape Research Alliance (NGRA). Join us to learn about the project from NGRA chair, Dr. Russ Smithyman, and learn how a few dedicated people and good ideas led to this nationally-funded vineyard health project.