The Shadow of the Farmer

There is a Japanese proverb that goes something like, “the shadow of the farmer is the best fertilizer.” Of all the things I’ve heard and learned about grapegrowing over the last nearly 20 years, that phrase is probably the most powerful. It signifies the value of showing up, being present, paying attention and focusing on the job at hand. Standing in the field (or vineyard), a farmer sees the state of things as they are, mentally catalogs the hundreds of tasks that need doing, and looks ahead to next year’s crop and the next decades’ business. All in the quiet act of casting a shadow.

As I’ve learned in my time at NGRA, that act can—and should—extend beyond the vineyard. Increasingly, our Board of Directors has sought out opportunities to tour research assets—labs, germplasm repositories, research wineries, field trials and other facilities—and meet the scientists who work there. It’s how we signal interest in and gratitude for the work that goes on to improve and sustain our industry into the future. It’s how we nurture and grow those relationships.

That’s why, in early November 2024, we toured the Corvallis campus of Oregon State University. Led by Director of the Oregon Wine Research Institute, Enologist James Osborne, we saw the labs of OSU Viticulture Professor and Extension Specialist Patty Skinkis and Entomologist Vaughn Walton. We donned hardhats and got a sneak peek at the brand-new research winery as it undergoes construction. We were among the first to see the new Smoke, Wine and Grapes Analytical Chemistry Lab led by Facility Manager Cole Cerrato. We solemnly stood in the grape greenhouse, marveling at microvines developed by Geneticist Laurent Deluc using novel gene editing techniques. And we saw the USDA-ARS facilities on the Corvallis campus, including the lab of Research Plant Pathologist Walt Mahaffee. As you can see above, we certainly cast a shadow.

The Thanksgiving holiday is all about bounty…which is to say, it’s all about farming. Research will have touched every item on your holiday plate and in the glass you raise to toast. As we share the bounty of this year’s harvest, let’s remember the shadow of the farmers and researchers who founded the feast.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Donnell Brown
President