Farm wineries' growth causes need for expert
Cornell Cooperative Extension is seeking to hire a full-time viticulture specialist to aid grape growers.
The Hudson Valley has seen an increase in the number of farm wineries and the number of acres under cultivation to produce grapes.
As a result, Cornell Cooperative Extension is seeking to hire a full-time viticulture specialist to give educational support and programming to grape growers, Laura McDermott said. She said the agency currently has two different people who try to help grape growers on a parttime basis, but demand has grown to require a full-time specialist.
“We’re still in the throes of trying to hire this person,” McDermott said Monday. She said Cornell Cooperative Extension hopes to hire its viticulture specialist sometime this summer.
McDermott is a small fruit and vegetable spe-
cialist for the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension. She said the viticulture specialist would specifically help grape growers throughout the Hudson Valley region, as well as in the Capital District and parts of the North Country.
Michael Migliore, owner of Whitecliff Vineyard and
Winery, in Gardiner, said news of the hiring of a fulltime viticulture specialist is great for grape growers, who have long asked for full-time help. He said the specialist would provide needed guidance to farmers who are just starting out growing grapes, as well as those looking to diversify their crops.
Farmers who are trying to diversify their crops would normally turn to Cornell Cooperative Extension to learn about the techniques for growing
grapes, but there has been no one available full-time, Migliore said.
“So, a lot of the growers were doing it on their own,” Migliore said. He said the viticulture specialist would help new growers avoid pitfalls and make the best choices for their vineyards, while also helping established
growers understand the latest scientific developments and techniques.
Migliore, who is president of the Hudson Valley Wine and Grape Association, said he has been growing grapes for 39 years, so he feels he has it all figured out. Where the viticulture specialist
would help someone like him is by sending out periodic reminders to growers about what kinds of things they should be scouting for on their crops at different times of the year, or about new research findings, he said.
Migliore said one of the biggest ways the viticulture
specialist could help growers is with site selection for vineyards. He said not all soil is good for grapes, and the specialist would help potential growers with that by looking at potential sites, checking historical temperatures for the area, and looking at the soil and slope of the land.