University of Minnesota Grapes Help Wine Industry Grow

In the past 30 years, the University of Minnesota has developed climate-enduring wine grapes that are now made into the four most widely produced wines in Minnesota.

A full crop of "cold hardy grapes" can withstand temperatures of up to 33 below zero.

Now, a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will allow researchers from the University and scientists from 11 other institutions to research more climate-resistant wine grapes, the acidity and taste within wine grapes and how best to market the wine to consumers.

Professor James Luby of the Department of Horticultural Sciences said the wine industry has been progressively growing in Minnesota for the last 15 years.

Read full article:  The Washington Examiner

Robert Young, pioneering Sonoma County grape grower, dies at 90

His focus on quality in growing wine grapes helped lead to one of California's first vineyard-designated wines.

By Claire Noland June 28, 2009

Photo: Robert Young, seeing money in growing grapes, moved away from producing prunes in the 1960s to grow wine grapes. He helped produce some of California's first vineyard-designated wines.

Robert Young, a pioneering Sonoma County farmer who changed his crop from prunes to grapes and helped produce some of the first vineyard-designated wines in California, has died. He was 90.

Young died June 19 at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital from complications of old age, said his daughter, Susan Sheehy.

A third-generation farmer from Geyserville in the Alexander Valley, he realized in the mid-1960s that he could make more money from wine grapes than from prunes, so he uprooted the trees and planted a vineyard, putting him at the leading edge of California's emerging wine industry. But it wasn't all about the profit.

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Horticulture Industry Plan

Sandra Godwin

Weekly Times
June 18, 2009

The provision of horticultural extension services is being farmed out to industry bodies in Victoria, as the Department of Primary Industries undergoes further restructuring.

The DPI last month offered the lure of a state government grant while seeking expressions of interest from groups willing to employ industry development officers.

Horticulture program manager Euan Laird said the development officers would be part of a Horticulture Industry Network being developed by the DPI to address shortcomings in the system.

Mr Laird said many industry groups were trying to "do good work" but relying on memberships did not provide them with enough capital or a solid funding base.

So far more than 20 groups have taken part in information sessions to explain the plan, which will shift responsibility for extension programs from the DPI to industry bodies.

Victorian Wine Industry Association chief executive Joanne Butterworth-Gray said his organisation would seek funding to employ at least three IDOs, who would be responsible for providing agribusiness development, communication and extension activities to growers.

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