Extension and Outreach through UC Davis Viticulture and Enology On-the-Road. AVF Project #2024-1685.
Summary of Progress:
By the end of the 2023-2024 funding cycle, we completed three of the four On the Road (OTR) educational events originally proposed in the 2023 AVF Extension and Outreach proposal (Alameda, San Luis Obispo, and Kern Counties) plus the program originally scheduled in San Diego, was postponed (with NCE 2023-1685), to November 2024. We used the NCE to fund the San Diego/Temecula program which took place on November 20, 2024. We have now completed all the events proposed in the 2023-24 grant (Proposal 2023-1685).
Three On the Road events were completed in the 2023-24 funding cycle. The first of the three events was in Alameda County (NCE 2022-1685), at the UC Livermore Collaboration Center, in Livermore, CA on November 9, 2023. We worked with Kamyar Aram (Specialty Crops Advisor, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties), used our own database to contact alumni, and local/regional associations and some of our executive leadership board members to get the word out about the program. Speakers included: Megan Bartlett, David Block, Akif Eskalen, Kamyar Aram, and Anita Oberholster. We then visited one of Anita’s former students at Occasio Winery and Distillery and the Darcy Kent Winery later that afternoon. For the Fresno OTR, we worked with Matt Fidelibus and George Zhuang to create an agenda with relevant topics, for March 19, 2024. We opened registration, had Matt and George send out alerts to their stakeholders, and then had to cancel due to very low registration numbers. We believe there may have been too many other programs in that area in that same timeframe. We were virtually On the Road in San Luis Obispo County on April 5, 2024, working with UCCE Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor, Mark Battany, to cover the following important topics: What does it mean to apply regenerative agricultural practices to grape growing, Irrigation with recycled water, Advances in single vine resolution irrigation, Grapevine mineral nutrition, and Foundations for a modern grape breeding program. Speakers included: Cristina Lazcano, Mark Battany, David Block, Matt Fidelibus, and Luis Diaz Garcia. We were physically On the Road, five days later, in Bakersfield (Kern County) at Hodel’s Country Dining on April 10. We worked with Tian Tian, Viticulture Farm Advisor, Kern County, to put together relevant topics for this region: Matt Fidelibus talked about Macro and micronutrient budgets of table grapes, David Block walked through the process of developing high-resolution irrigation technology, Akif Eskalen discussed a practical guide for disease identification and tissue sampling and Tian Tian talked about Improving berry firmness and color in red table grapes. New UCD V & E Department Chair, Ben Montpetit, then gave a department overview. During lunch there was further discussion of current issues and future research.
We plan to complete four On the Road events, in the 2024-25 grant cycle. The first OTR program for 2024-25 was the San Diego/Temecula On the Road Program (NCE 2023-1685). This program took place at Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula on November 20, 2024. Akif Eskalen, Tian Tian, David Block, Ron Runnebaum, Megan Bartlett and Axel Herrera (Lazcano Lab) spoke. The second program in the 2024-25 grant cycle is scheduled for March 5, 2025, in Stockton (confirmed speakers include: Luis Diaz Garcia, Ben Montpetit, Liang Chen, David Block and Cindy Kron). The third program will be in Sonoma on March 19, 2025, and the fourth OTR is scheduled for April 22, 2025, in Napa.
