It’s with both a sense of sadness and gratitude that I let you know that Tim Martinson, my colleague and predecessor as extension viticulturist for the Finger Lakes Grape Program, will be retiring as of January 31, 2022.
Tim worked for the Finger Lakes Grape Program from 1997 – 2007, before he took his current position at the Statewide Viticulture Extension specialist. During his career in Extension, Tim has had many accomplishments, both in terms of applied research in the field and developing new and effective extension programs that benefitted the industry. He was the leader of the project that led to the development of the VineBalance workbook, which has been used by many growers in the Finger Lakes region to improve their vineyard practices and reduce the environmental impacts of their farms. The VineBalance workbook is the basis of the sustainability certification program that is being developed by the industry and the NY Wine & Grape Foundation.
Tim was also the leader of the Northern Grapes project, a five-year federally-funded research and extension project that sought to improve the knowledge base for growers and wineries who rely on cultivars developed for colder climates, such as northern New York and the upper Midwest. A significant portion of the outreach effort for this project was focused on online webinars, which were still very much a ‘new thing’ for us (an most people) in pre-COVID times. During the project, the team hosted 30 webinars, with over 3,000 viewers in 47 states and Canada participating live, and another 2,400 viewing recordings of them later on. The success of these webinars opened many of our eyes to the potential that they could have for expanding the audience for our programs, long before COVID forced most of us to learn that for ourselves. You can read more about the accomplishments of the Northern Grapes project in one of the final newsletters which you can find here.
Tim was our fearless leader for the annual Veraison to Harvest and Winter Bud Hardiness projects, which are both statewide efforts that provide important information to the industry each year about fruit ripening progress and winter bud survival, respectively. Along with Chris Gerling, Tim was also co-editor and a significant contributor for Appellation Cornell, a quarterly online publication whose purpose is to highlight Cornell’s Research, Teaching, and Extension efforts associated with Viticulture and Enology to a broad audience of scientists, growers, winemakers, and other industry professionals. Over 3,200 people currently subscribe to Appellation Cornell from all over the world.
Tim has made important contributions to our field and to the industry here in our little corner of the grape & wine world. Tim has been a great colleague to me and to all of us who work in viticulture and enology at Cornell. He was incredibly supportive and helpful to me as I was getting started in his former job, and has continued to be since then. His presence in our day-to-day work here at Cornell will be missed, but I have a feeling he won’t completely disappear right away.
Plans are currently in the works for a celebration for Tim sometime in the spring. I will be sure to publish details when we know them. In the meantime, if you want to reach out to Tim directly, his email address is tem2@cornell.edu.
