Grant Amount - SCRI CAP Grant, $4.3 million in 2012; renewed in 2014 over 5 years, through September 2017
A multi-crop (grape, pistachio and almond) project, “New Detection, Research and Extension Tools for Managing Wood-Canker Diseases of Fruit and Nut Crops” was funded in 2012 to tackle trunk diseases, the leading reason for vineyard removal in many parts of the country. Because the industry lacks disease diagnostic tools (other than saws) it is estimated that these diseases result in losses of over $200 million each year. NGRA helped craft a winning planning grant from SCRI, with which Dr. Themis Michailides (UC Davis-Kearney in Parlier), Dr. Kendra Baumgartner (ARS) pulled together a trans-disciplinary team to develop diagnostic tools and eventually, measures to reduce the impact of diseases including Eutypa and Botryosphaeria. NGRA members committed well over $2,000,000 in land match annually, with wine grapes from five different regions, and table grapes from two. NGRA members also agreed to serve on the project’s advisory board, which has met several times over the past years and the next scheduled meeting is set for January 22, 2016. This project was submitted as a five year project, and full funding was approved for a continuation grant, once Congress extended the Specialty Crop Research Initiative in 2014. Work will continue to determine the feasibility of developing a diagnostic tool, based on molecular changes in asymptomatic vines. In addition, the project includes an integrated economic and sociology component which will be used to develop outreach tools explaining the cost/benefit ratios and the year when various available preventative treatments commence. View complete project details here.
A recent article in the Good Fruit Grower notes an increasing concern in Washington state as more acres are planted in wine grapes and as the trunks on the region’s once-nascent grapevines age. Older vines are more susceptible to the disease. The article discusses the disease and the potential prevention being researched in California. Click here for the link to the full article. (links to this website – http://www.goodfruit.com/knowing-washingtons-trunk-diseases/?utm_source=Good+Fruit+Grower+eFlash&utm_campaign=2fb48e8d1e-Good_Fruit_Grower_newsletter_022616&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f67a0b0e5e-2fb48e8d1e-10276789)