Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/769560
38 JANUARY 15, 2017 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com about the growth of the vines or readings from soils that a manager could use to guide his decisions. If one area needs more water, a grower can give only that spot more water. If another location has poor soil, he can fertilize only those vines. Bates hails from the Lake Erie grape belt, a 60-mile ribbon of vineyards between Buffalo, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania. The region makes a living off lake effect weather that moderates growing conditions near the shores. Concords dominate, but the region has a growing wine industry, too, with 25 wineries now. Bates calls the area "about 10 years behind" Eastern Washington's grape country. Bates' collaborators are Steve Nuske from Carnegie Mellon University, James Taylor from Newcastle University in England, Tim Weigle from Cornell University, and Julian Alston and Kaan Kurtural, both of University of California, Davis. The Ravenholt Lecture Series brings grape industry professionals to Washington State University to share expertise. It is funded by an endowment from the Albert Ravenholt Foundation, named after the late founding partner of Sagemoor Vineyards in Pasco, Washington. Longtime industry goal Variable management for wine grapes — or any farm product — is not a new idea. It's just another step toward precision farming. Row crops in the Midwest have been doing this for decades, adjusting fertilizer treatments based on soil conditions, said Michelle Moyer, extension viticulturist for Washington State University in Prosser, Washington. The problem is doing that with grapes involves hilly terrain, new irrigation lines, extra passes down the row with a tractor and other costly techniques. Researchers have been looking for ways "(Bates) is finally translating all that information into something we can physically do, and is reasonable to do." —Michelle Moyer