Mission Statement
The mission of Cornell Grape Pathology is to be a trusted and respected source of novel, efficacious, and sustainable grape disease detection and management practices for juice, table, and wine grape production. We aim to provide accessible grape disease management education and reliable early intervention decision support to New York and US grape industry stakeholders. We develop, evaluate, and disseminate knowledge about new control mechanisms, tools, and techniques for grape disease management relevant to short- and long-term stakeholder needs. Cornell Grape Pathology is run by Dr. Katie Gold, the Principal Investigator of the Gold Lab. Cornell Grape Pathology approaches extension with a shared responsibility mindset. We are a team, and through coordinated team activities we seek to enact our vision across NY state and beyond.
Background
Grape (Vitis spp.) is the highest value fruit crop in the United States worth $6.5+ billion in farm gate value and grown on over one million acres. The US produces 7.5 million tons of grapes and 900+ million gallons of wine annually. The US wine industry, a value-added grape product, generates more than $65 billion in economic value, including $1.5 billion in export value. Disease and its intensification under climate change threatens the environmental, financial, and societal sustainability of grape production. New York is the third largest producer of wine, juice, and table grapes in the US, consisting of 1,392 farms spread across 39,216ac in four major production zones: Finger Lakes, Lake Erie, Hudson Valley, and Long Island. The New York wine and grape industry (NYWGI) generates $4.8B in economic benefit annually, but recently grower profits have been lagging. For example, a Cornell analysis found that Finger Lakes growers have been losing $859-2,141/ac since 2013. New York has multiple endemic diseases that contribute to these losses, necessitating high-frequency fungicide application. At an average ~$50/ac, a single fungicide application costs the industry at large almost $2M. Any missed or mistimed application can result in significant crop loss, so growers overwhelmingly rely on intensive, calendar-based programs built from limited options to assuage risk. This has left them vulnerable to fungicide resistance development. Because of this, disease management was ranked as a primary grower concern at a series of listening sessions held by Cornell extension staff in 2018. Over the next decade, compounding changes in pesticide regulations, environmental pressure, and generational consumption habits will intensely challenge New York grape production and sustainable disease management. Sustaining, enhancing, and ensuring the viability of the NY and broader grape industry and its value-added products in the face of these challenges requires continuous innovation—and in particular, innovation in disease control and detection.
Overarching priorities
- Ensure CGP extension is relevant and responsive to industry needs
- Enhance stakeholder knowledge of grape disease management best practices, aiming for a measurable increase in adoption and confidence.
- Increase awareness and preparedness for forthcoming policy changes restricting broad-spectrum fungicide use, ensuring stakeholders have access to evidence-based recommendations on viable alternatives.
- Facilitate industry transition to biofungicide rotations and disease-resistant varieties, with measurable adoption goals among NYS growers.
- Advance applied sensing research from experimental vineyard trials to validated commercial vineyard case studies, demonstrating impact through real-world applications.