April 2020 - 28

Cornell helping NYS wineries craft sustainable future
By Sarah Thompson
Cornell University
For the first time in more than two
decades, U.S. consumers are drinking
less wine.
Younger consumers aren't engaging
with it like their older peers, and are
drinking less in general, but sustainablyproduced
wine could change that.
According to a 2019 Wine Intelligence
consumer survey, sustainable wine had
the highest future purchase consideration.
And nine in 10 millennials said they'd be
willing to pay more for it.
" Over the last decade, consumers
have become more concerned with the
provenance of their products, how they're
grown and what inputs are going into the
ground to support their harvest, " said Sam
Filler, executive director of the New York
Wine and Grape Foundation (NYWGF).
To respond to this shift, Cornell
experts are helping New York state
wineries navigate new research, farming
techniques, technologies and business
trends to become leaders in sustainability.
Nearly 480 winemakers, grape growers,
distributors, marketers, educators and
others attended the seventh annual B.E.V.
(Business, Enology, Viticulture) NY
conference and symposium, Feb. 26-28
in Henrietta, New York. The event
was organized by the Cornell University
Titus Howell, a student in the Finger Lakes Community College Viticulture and Wine Technology program, examines a sample of white
wine. Photos: R.J. Anderson/Cornell University
Enology Extension Laboratory, Cornell
Cooperative Extension's Finger Lakes Grape
Program and the Charles H. Dyson School
of Applied Economics and Management.
For Justine Vanden Heuvel, associate
professor of viticulture at Cornell
AgriTech, vineyard sustainability
starts in the ground. She presented
preliminary research and field studies
on using fungal spores as biofertilizers,
reporting that mycorrhizae - which are
naturally symbiotic with grapevine roots -
improve water and nutrient uptake and
help prevent soil erosion. They are also
known to increase plant resistance to
disease and pests.
Other Cornell research is using light to
create a more sustainable future. David
Gadoury, senior research associate, leads
an interdisciplinary research team that
has successfully used ultraviolet light to
A BETTER GRAPE
BEGINS AT BLOOM
Get improved fruit set and higher quality grapes with BM 86™ at
bloom. Then follow up with CINETIS™ to promote optimal nutrient
utilization during the season. Both products are powered by
proven GOËMAR®
Formulation Technology, are easy to use, and
can be applied and tank mixed with most common insecticides,
fungicides and foliar nutrients.
To learn more, contact your Simplot PCA
or visit upl-ltd.com/us.
Always read and follow label directions. UPL, the UPL logo, OpenAg and all products are trademarks of a
UPL Corporation Limited Group Company. ©2020 UPL Corporation Limited Group Company. SPC-1933B
28 | FruitGrowersNews.com

http://www.upl-ltd.com/us http://www.FruitGrowersNews.com

April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2020