Funding Milestone for Wine Research Pt 2

With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Topping the million dollars mark for the first time, funding for wine research in Washington state is enabling more difference-making projects than ever before...

MELISSA HANSEN ... "The funds from this year will fund 18 research projects. They start in July on the fiscal, the state fiscal year, but the added amount this year, the 20 percent more, will allow eight new projects to be funded. Last year, we were only able to start three new projects."

Melissa Hansen, Research Program Manager with the Washington Wine Commission, says some of the past research projects have made an incredible difference in wine production capabilities statewide ...

MELISSA HANSEN ... "There was one about a decade ago that came up with a way to take care of cut worms out in the vineyard. And that innovative technology, it was a new way to spray at the base of the trunks, that resulted in about an 80 percent in reduction in pesticide use. It set the stage for today where growers use very few pesticides in the vineyard because it's a natural environment and they're able to just selectively target the problem pests."

Hansen says other projects include cold-hardiness and irrigation research that have both been game changers, improving the overall health of the industry in our state and the quality of Washington wines.