Viticulture farm advisor Larry Bettiga of the Salinas County UC Cooperative Extension office wrote a column that ran in the "Business Monday" section of the Salinas Californian today. The article makes a strong case for local agricultural research.
Local research has been instrumental in helping the Monterey County wine grape industry achieve and maintain a reputation of being early adapters of new technologies, Bettiga asserted in the article.
He noted that, when phylloxera was found in the Salinas Valley in the early 1980s requiring the replanting of some vineyards to phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, UC researchers established a series of rootstock trials with cooperating vineyards at 10 sites under different soil and pest conditions.
Mildew is another area UC researchers have studied extensively. If not controlled annually, mildew can cause major losses in fruit yield and quality.
The article closes with a plug for "Diamonds and Denim," a Feb. 16 fundraiser hosted by Monterey County Vintners and Growers Foundation that will raise money for local viticultural research.
