September 2026

A spore is born*

With the autumnal equinox this month, we crossed the day-night rubicon. For that one day—Sept. 22—our daylight hours roughly equaled nighttime. Now, we’ll continue to lose daylight every day until the winter solstice on Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year.

The Farmers’ Almanac has a chart showing just how much the light will dwindle in your state over the next three months. For me in California, it’s 2.7 hours. We lose more light in September and October, then the darkening slows as the solstice approaches. Maybe that’s why it feels like that 2.7 hours is already gone!

For many grape growers, the equinox typically means harvest season—if Mother Nature allows. As crush began for eastern growers this month, a nor’easter battered the East Coast, possibly dampening prospects for an already light crop. And a deadly spring frost killed buds and whole vines from Ohio to Virginia earlier this year. There are growers sitting this harvest out. (See related story about fruit loss waivers in Virginia, below.)

What’s in This Issue?

Scroll down to...

• Find out how USDA is modernizing how it collects ag data
• Follow spores on their journey through your vineyards
• Learn how two states’ legislative actions will benefit grape growers
• Tune in to our podcast-style deep dive on this month’s research headlines

But for others, harvest started with a bang. For California table grapes, harvest started on April 28, some 2.5 weeks early. Elsewhere in California, the winegrape harvest kicked off on June 30, “arguably the earliest start to harvest in living memory.” The raisin harvest also started early in late July. Harvest for the juice varieties—Concord and Niagara—in Washington State and the Lake Erie juice belt started in mid-September, more or less right on time.

Now, the end of the growing season is in sight. Indeed, for some it’s in the rearview. No matter how it played out, most would agree it’s almost never easy and it’s definitely never the same. For all the ag technologies that come to market (scroll down for a report on the 400+ players comprising today’s crop robotics landscape, for example), there will always be unknowns and quick pivots. Whether you’re growing grapes for fresh or dried consumption, or processing them into juice or wine, grape growing is farming first.

Grape research and development has done—and will continue to do—wonders for the process. But as the daylight wanes and the crews work to conquer one more harvest, it’s still the lengthening shadow of the farmer in the field that makes the difference.

This month, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the USDA Data Modernization Plan. USDA data informs crop and livestock estimates, risk-management tools, disaster assistance, and critical business decisions made by farmers, ranchers, agri-businesses, researchers and policymakers. In an effort to improve the timeliness, accuracy and usefulness of the agricultural data the department collects, USDA seeks to:

• Modernize the Data Reporting Experience: Expand use of administrative data, improve mobile access to surveys and the use of prefilled information, and strengthen coordination across the department. These changes will reduce duplicative requests and limit the amount of time producers spend reporting information.
• Enhance Acreage and Yield Estimation: Conduct a pilot to evaluate the use of satellite imagery, geospatial tools, crop models, and other emerging technologies combined with producer-reported information to enhance acreage and yield estimations.
• Integrate Data and Technology Platforms: Modernize its technology infrastructure, expand secure data-sharing capabilities, and evaluate the use of tools like AI and machine learning to better integrate its systems and produce more timely and useful information.
• Expand Trust and Transparency with Producers: Protect producer privacy and clearly explain why information is requested and how it is used.

View the entire plan here.

NGRA member-organization Wine Institute sponsored Assembly Bill (AB) 1991, which California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law this month. Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) authored the measure that gives wineries in the state a new tool to better understand consumer preferences through sensory research. Specifically, it allows licensed wineries and other alcoholic beverage producers to conduct this research under clearly defined safeguards, including requirements that participants be 21 or older and limitations designed to ensure tastings are conducted solely for legitimate market research purposes. “AB 1991 provides a practical, responsible tool to help California producers better understand their consumers and make more informed decisions about the future,” said Steve Gross, President & CEO of Wine Institute.

Virginia Producers Receive Fruit Loss Waivers

Wineries and vineyards that suffered severe crop losses due to severe frost and freeze events last spring have received temporary waivers that allow them to source a higher proportion of grapes from vineyards they don’t own or lease so they may continue production this year. The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority granted automatic waivers to 169 wineries and vineyards after the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services submitted a joint exemption request on behalf of the producers. “These waivers offer essential relief to Virginia winemakers recovering from devastating freeze losses,” said AJ Greely, President of the Virginia Vineyards Association, an NGRA member-organization.

District, an NGRA member-organization, contributed up to $1.7 million in district reactionary funds generated through the California table grape industry, to support CDFA activities related to the prevention and control of Pierce’s Disease (PD) and the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter (GWSS). The action was taken in response to an approximately $1.7 million funding shortfall associated with current PD/GWSS program activities.

Under California Food and Agricultural Code Section 6047.87, the Consolidated Central Valley Table Grape Pest and Disease Control District is authorized to take actions necessary to control, eradicate, remove, or prevent the spread of the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter, Pierce’s Disease, and other designated pests and diseases injurious to table grapes. This investment is part of the organization’s charge. The District is an NGRA member-organization.

CAWG Announces 2027 Awards of Excellence Recipients

The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) this month announced its 2027 Awards of Excellence. The 2027 CAWG Grower of the Year is J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines and Leader of the Year is Jeff Bitter, President of Allied Grape Growers. All three companies are NGRA member-organizations. 

“The Grower of the Year Award is recognition that we have set a tone of excellence for our vineyard operations that equates exceptional quality with growing and producing our own wines,” said J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines Founder & CFO Jerry Lohr, who was founding Board Chair for NGRA (then the National Grape & Wine Initiative). “The example we believe we set is not just for the benefit of our operations but for the advancement of the entire winegrape growing industry.”

“Collaboration and collective voice are absolutely essential for success of the winegrape grower community, and being named as a leader in that effort is an honor,” said Jeff Bitter. Jeff has been with Allied Grape Growers nearly 30 years. The statewide grape growers cooperative marketing association represents approximately 400 members and markets $70 to $100 million worth of grapes annually. AGG is among NGRA’s longest tenured members.

CAWG will honor both recipients at a reception on Jan. 26, 2027, at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium.

Nominate an Innovative Grower for First-Ever FIRA Award

FIRA USA has launched the Grower-Led Innovation of the Year Award, a new honor recognizing farmers and farming operations that are helping shape the future of agricultural technology through real-world innovation and on-farm results. Rather than recognizing technology itself, the award puts the spotlight on the growers who test emerging technologies, work alongside developers to improve solutions, and make critical decisions about what works, what doesn’t and what is ready to scale. The award is open to growers and farming operations that have tested, evaluated, helped develop, purchased or adopted an innovative agricultural technology. Submit your nomination by Oct. 5, 2026. The winner will be recognized at FIRA USA 2026, Oct. 20-22, 2026, in Yakima, WA.

Texas Tech Seeks a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer of Enology

The Department of Plant and Soil Science in the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University invites applications for a full-time, 12-month Lecturer to begin in Spring 2027. The position will be based at Texas Tech University’s Fredericksburg location and will play a central role in delivering, coordinating, and further developing undergraduate enology instruction and the Texas Tech Winemaking Certificate Program. Learn more and apply by Oct. 31, 2026.

A Spore’s Journey Through Vineyards  

By Lucas Ulmer, Fabien Margairaz and Rob Stoll – University of Utah with the FRAME Networks Team

The pathogens of major grape diseases like powdery mildew, downy mildew, black rot, botrytis and phomopsis travel through vineyards on microscopic spores carried on the air. To make best use of spore traps and other scouting data to manage these diseases, it’s helpful to understand the highly chaotic and complex process that enables spores to spread.

The Flight to Infection

Spores’ journey involves interactions among the plant and pathogen, and topography and microclimate of the vineyard. These factors influence the four key events that comprise the airborne portion of many plant pathogens’ lifecycles: liberation, escape, dispersion and deposition. Let’s look at each.

1. Liberation 

The first obstacle a spore faces when leaving a leaf surface is the leaf boundary layer—a thin blanket of laminar (or layered) slow-moving air near the leaf. When this leaf boundary layer gets disturbed, spores can be set loose to begin their journey. Two phenomena that can disturb the boundary layer are leaf fluttering or high-energy turbulent air moving into the canopy. How the disruption of the boundary layer influences liberation is largely a factor of the pathogen and how spores are produced. 

Fungal pathogens have evolved multiple mechanisms that aid spores in crossing this boundary, from active propulsion to passive structural features. Some pathogens have spores that are primarily released by wind (e.g., powdery mildew conidia) while others (e.g., downy mildew and botrytis) are typically assisted by mechanical forces like rain or tractor passes. 

2. Escape

The next challenge for a spore is to “escape” the immediate vicinity of the leaf it just left and either move within the canopy or leave the canopy for the surrounding air. In grapevines, as the canopy grows and becomes denser, wind velocities in the canopy are lower and the ability of turbulence to move spores around gets weaker. Disease incidence and severity increase in the adjacent canopy with little spread to neighboring plants due to this reduced airflow and the eddies that form in the space between rows. These eddies (turbulent structures) strengthen and have more influence on spore movement the greater the distance between rows. Typically, eddies sweep spores from the trunk or lower canopy downward to the ground. But spores originating from leaves in the mid to upper canopy are ejected to the air above the canopy and carried some distance away. The distance they travel depends on numerous factors other than wind speed, including terrain and the presence of obstacles (e.g., buildings, trees, windbreaks). The row structure also influences wind direction within the canopy by channeling air and its movement up or down the row. Thus, disease is often found aggregated to a few vines and appears to move up and down a row. 

Since an airborne spore must fight gravity to stay aloft long enough to escape the canopy, spore size dramatically affects the chances of escape. In still air, a 1-micron particle may stay aloft for 10 hours while a 20-micron particle settles after only a minute or two. Many pathogen spores are larger than 20 microns, making the transport conditions during first few minutes of flight critical in determining how it will escape the canopy and the distance it will travel. Particle shape is also important. Non-spherical spores (e.g., powdery mildew conidia, downy mildew sporangia) introduce lift and drag forces that can help keep it moving with the air mass. 

How a pathogen liberates from the leaf boundary layer also offers clues about how far it will ultimately travel. Spores released during high-shear (e.g., gusting or high velocity) wind events are likely to travel farther than those released by leaf flutter caused by raindrops or other mechanical forces. Faster moving wind is more likely to carry spores so that they have enough momentum to escape the plant canopy and be caught in an eddy that moves them further from the canopy. Spores liberated by leaf movement or other mechanical forces are more likely to be pushed back to the original host by the surrounding slow-moving air. 

3. Dispersion 

Once aloft above the canopy, a group of spores travels downwind in a wedge-shaped pattern called a plume. The plume is aligned with the wind direction and widens based on the amount of turbulence caused by weather, topography, row orientation, canopy density and other obstacles. 

4. Deposition

As a spore plume moves through a vineyard, the vines filter out spores being carried in it via deposition. Denser canopies will result in more deposition, decreasing the overall concentration of spores as well as the distance the remaining spores in the plume can travel. In addition, as spore velocity and density increase so does deposition. Imagine trying to hit a target with a ball on a windy day—it’s easier to do with a baseball thrown at top speed than with a ballon the same size. 

Follow the Spores to Manage Disease Spread

An understanding of spore dispersion can help to:

• Decide where to place traps – The more vegetation near the trap, the less likely a spore will be able to reach it before depositing. But if the trap is too far away from the vegetation, you will intercept fewer spores. 
• Interpret spore trap data – Due to settling and deposition, the vast majority of spores released from a leaf will only travel around three to five rows away, so trapped spores are likely from nearby plants.

Use this information to develop an intuition for where disease—via spores—may travel next.

This article was sourced from the original, beautifully illustrated fact sheet titled, “Dispersion: A Spore’s Journey in Vineyards,” updated in October 2025 as part of the SCRI-funded FRAME Networks research project. Check out the full version here.

Funding Opportunities

Penn State Plant Industry Grants

Penn State Extension and the Center for Plant Excellence is offering $133,937 in grant funding to support projects that grow career pipelines into the plant industries, address invasive species and plant health threats, strengthen business resilience and innovation, and expand industry visibility. Two funding tracks are offered. Track A is for R&D universities and colleges, agricultural extension programs, and agricultural high schools; deadline to apply is Nov. 4, 2026. Track B and is for career development by Pennsylvania-based employers, farms, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations; deadline is Oct. 5, 2026.

Michigan Craft Beverage Council

The Michigan Craft Beverage Council makes grants up to $40,000 available for research focused on expanding Michigan-grown ingredients, advancing regenerative agriculture, improving crop quality, and strengthening quality control and sustainable packaging in Michigan craft beverages.​ Education grants of up to $5,000 are also available for Michigan-based projects that support growers, producers and other industry partners.​ Apply by Oct. 9, 2026.​

National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship

The USDA-NIFA NNF program provides funding to support outstanding new graduate (master’s or doctoral) students in building science competencies through research and extension/outreach activities, and completing their degrees in the food and agricultural sciences, helping to further USDA’s mission to increase the pipeline of domestic agricultural students. Fellows must be new graduate students, and citizens, nationals or permanent residents of the United States. Deadline to apply is Oct. 15, 2026.

NASA Accelerating Earth Solutions

The NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences program for Accelerating Earth Solutions (AES) seeks to accelerate the use of Earth-observing satellite measurements in decision-making, including for agriculture. Proposals are sought in three areas: 

• Needs and Opportunities: Identifying critical issues and potential solutions; 
• Solutions Development: Developing solutions for deployment; and 
• Scaling Impact: Scaling the reach and utilization of existing solutions. 

AES proposals are due Oct. 15, 2026.

Plant Protection Act (PPA) Section 7721

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is accepting submissions for funding authorized under PPA 7721 for projects supporting the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN), which provides growers with healthy, disease-free propagation material for high-value specialty crops such as berries, grapes, citrus, fruit trees, hops, sweet potatoes and roses. NCPN project submissions are due by Oct. 19, 2026.

Washington State Wine Commission

The Washington State Wine Commission grant program is designed to foster research collaboration with WSU and other wine regions to leverage research funding opportunities. The program offers one-year grants targeted at practical trials for rapid application to wineries and vineyards or proof-of-concept research ideas, and intermediate grants. Awards from the Washington Wine Commission’s program are available to Washington State University scientists, out-of-state university researchers, and private contractors. Pre-proposals are due Oct. 23, 2026. 

Virginia Wine Board

The Virginia Wine Board is seeking pre-proposals to fund research, education, and marketing projects that implement the state’s Wine Vision strategy to ensure a vibrant and sustainable industry for Virginia farm wineries and cideries. For this grant cycle, the VWB specifically seeks projects in these four areas: viticulture and enology (projects must include extension or demonstration, not just research); financial sustainability and industry data; technical education and workforce development; and marketing for Virginia wine. Pre-proposals are due Nov. 10, 2026.

Applying for a grant? Request a letter of support!

NGRA is pleased to provide letters of support for research projects that directly address our industry research priorities. Request a letter via our online request form at least two weeks prior to the grant deadline (or any internal deadline you may have). Late requests are not accepted.

U.S. Farmers’ Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops Continued to Increase in 2025

Sept. 24, 2026 | USDA-ERS Charts of Note

Interesting stats for the grape and wine industry, which is very sensitive to consumer perception around genetic modification: Genetically engineered (GE) seeds for major field crops were commercially introduced in the United States in 1996. Their two main GE traits have been herbicide tolerance (HT) and insect resistance, and are increasingly stacked in new varieties. Today, more than 90% of corn, cotton and soybean acres are planted using at least one GE trait. HT seeds also are widely used in alfalfa, canola and sugar beet production.

Palette Versus Palate: Wine Drinkers Embrace a Spectrum of Wine Colors 

Sept. 23, 2026 | Cornell Chronicle

New research suggests that concerns about the color of red wines made from interspecific hybrid grape varieties may be overblown. A study co-led by Cornell AgriTech and the Université Bourgogne Europe found that consumers showed no consistent bias against the color of wines made from hybrid varieties. When evaluated alongside pinot noirs from Burgundy, Oregon and the Finger Lakes, several hybrid wines ranked among the most visually appealing in the study. Taste and aroma are more important than color in overall quality perception, they said. 

The 2026 Crop Robotics Landscape

Sept. 19, 2026 | The Mixing Bowl

More than 400 companies comprise the “2026 Crop Robotics Landscape” from food and ag technology consultancy The Mixing Bowl. The total reflects an increase of 25% from 2024; more than a third are new entrants. Among the insights of the report, they note “a significant increase in the number of solutions targeting permanent crop production,” like grape, and steady growth in spraying and weeding solutions, with UV light treatment deployments on the rise. 

“You Don’t Want A Wall of Trees” – Getting Serious About Windbreaks with Erik Hagan

Sept. 18, 2026 | Savanna Institute

Well-designed windbreaks can be a powerful tool for reducing erosion, preventing pesticide drift and protecting farm buildings. But one that’s poorly conceived or not well-maintained can actually make the wind worse. “You don’t want to just plant trees,” Savanna Institute’s Farm Director Erik Hagan explains. “It’s an engineered project. It’s got a lot of science behind it. You want somewhere around 60% wind blockage, so about 40% porosity, meaning you want that wind to actually slow down but still move through that windbreak.” 

The Next Gene-Editing Technology May Also Be the Oldest

Sept. 17, 2026 | The New York Times

Scientists, including CRISPR Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, her then-graduate student and others, have discovered a precursor to CRISPR. The system, which they called VIPR, appears to be more than four billion years old and, like CRISPR, is a gene-editing defense found in nature, this one in viruses themselves. It may prove to be more powerful. AI made the discovery possible by “uncover(ing) ancient connections between proteins that were hidden until now.”

‘HyperBird’ Spots Grape Diseases Before They’re Visible

Sept. 14, 2026 | Cornell Chronicle

Katie Gold and Yu Jiang (Cornell), Lance Cadle-Davidson (USDA-ARS) and their collaborators have developed a hyperspectral imaging platform that can detect grape diseases like powdery and downy mildew before symptoms are visible. It’s called HyperBird, a name that riffs on the original RGB camera-based design, Blackbird. Blackbird has the spatial resolution of an optical microscope, but HyperBird gives researchers 200 times greater spectral resolution per pixel, thereby doubling or even tripling the speed of disease detection. The bench-top robot can help plant breeders develop disease-resistant grape varieties more quickly, and has applications in the field for fungicide application and crop management. 

Toward Systemic Scaling of Producer-Led Trials: Evidence From a Structured, Adaptive and Supported Approach in Vineyards

Sept. 9, 2026 | Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research

Intrepid grape growers routinely do on-farm experiments to solve problems and try new things. Researchers at the University of Tasmania performed a formal study to implement, adapt and evaluate participatory processes and in-vineyard methods during producer-led trials to understand key featres for success. They found that a structured, adaptive and supported approach with in-built accountabilities helped producers to complete trials effectively and efficiently.

Spotted Lanternflies Have Spread to 21 States: ‘They’re Here to Stay’

Sept. 8, 2026 | AccuWeather

Confirmed sightings of spotted lanternflies span 21 states and Washington, D.C., now reaching as far south as Georgia and as far west as Iowa, according to Cornell IPM’s Spotted Lanternfly Status Map. New Hampshire was among the latest states to record its first confirmed sighting this year. Across much of the eastern U.S. where SLF is widespread, adults could remain active into the first half of November or until the first hard freeze.

A Large-Scale Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) Study of the Sensory Characteristics of White and Red Wines Produced from Fungus-Resistant Grape Varieties in the South of France

Sept. 7, 2026 | Oeno One

In new research led by scientists at INRAE, 43 white and 33 red wines made from either “fungus-resistant grape varieties” or Vitis vinifera varieties were evaluated over two consecutive years by a trained panel. The tasters’ “analyses of white and red wines revealed no significant overall sensory differences between new and traditional grape varieties,” the researchers report. “This suggests that the aromatic and gustatory potential of the new varieties is comparable to that of traditional varieties and is mainly influenced by factors such as grape ripeness, winemaking practices, soil and climate conditions rather than genetic origin alone.”

The Red Blotch Menace: Can Napa Save Itself from ‘Sneaky’ Vine Disease?

Sept. 7, 2026 | JamesSuckling.com

Phylloxera prompted Napa Valley replants in in the late 1980s, but now red blotch is driving vine removals. “Red blotch is not new,” JamesSuckling.com reports. “But it’s getting extra attention as a statewide surplus of grapes has accelerated the fallowing and or replanting of sites that have made some of the very best wines.” But “it’s sneakier than phylloxera to identify,” says one winemaker. The Red Blotch Research Initiative has raised $2.5 million from 11 Napa-based partners to underwrite new research.

Science Explains Why Wine Buying Makes People Nervous. One Retailer Profitably Took Notes.

Sept. 7, 2026 | Wine Thinking by Robert Joseph

A meta-analysis of research on “choice overload” done in 2014 found that “overload reliably appears when one or more of four specific conditions is significantly present,” writes Robert Joseph on Substack, who proposes overload as a reason wine consumption has declined. Among the four conditions the researchers listed, none of them is “that wine has too many options; it is that the options have precisely the structure the research identifies as toxic.”

Characterization of Texas Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat Wines

Sept. 6, 2026 | Beverages 

Researchers at Texas A&M published a first-ever study characterizing the chemical and sensory properties of Texas wines. They compared 26 Texas Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat wines from the High Plains and Hill Country AVAs against other regions famous for these varieties, finding notable chemical and sensory differences between the two Texas regions and the analogs from around the world. The results will provide a useful dataset for future studies on Texas wines to reference.

Contrary to Conventional Wisdom, “the Earlier Grapes Are Harvested, the More Prone the Wine Is to Oxidation”

Sept. 2, 2026 | Vitisphere 

A doctoral student at the Vine & Wine Science Institute at the University of Bordeaux has developed a rapid test for the free radicals sotolon, methaniol and phenylacetaldehyde identified as precursors of oxidative notes in wine. Using the test, “we observed that the earlier grapes are harvested, the more the wine is prone to oxidation,” the researcher’s thesis advisor reports. And that can “scupper the aging potential of a wine,” Vitisphere adds. #graperesearch

The Surprising Secret Weapon Against Spotted Lanternflies

Sept. 1, 2026 | National Geographic

Scientists studying spotted lanternflies may have stumbled upon a new weapon in the fight against the invasive species, “one that just so happens to be critical habitat for monarch butterflies, an insect species perhaps as loved as the lanternfly is despised: milkweed,” reports the National Geographic. “When spotted lanternflies feed on the stuff, they have a tendency to drop dead.” Citizen science helped spur the discovery. 

How Researchers Are Helping Growers Fight Pests with Greener Weapons

Aug. 29, 2026 | New York Wine & Grape Foundation

For many viticulturists, conventional fungicides like ziram and mancozeb are the gold standard for fighting downy and powdery mildew, and other fungal pathogens. But as key fungicides face the risk of being delisted, grape growers are hoping to find alternatives. Research funded by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation and led by Cornell’s Katie Gold and Penn State Professor Emeritus Michael Campbell seek to provide “clear advice on what kinds of spray programs can replace broad-spectrum spray programs.” The research shows auspicious outcomes.

A Sweet Debut for Two New Table Grapes

Aug. 26, 2026 | Growing Produce

California-based table grape breeding company Sun World International last month introduced two new table grape brands. SUMMER BLUSH is the brand name for the new Sugra74 variety, an ombre-colored, crisp-textured, candy-flavored seedless grape. FLAVORCRUSH is the brand name for Sugra60, a midseason, mildly crisp red seedless grape with large berries and tropical fruit flavor profile.

Specialty Crop Farms Had the Largest Share of Cash Expenses on Labor Relative to Other Farm Types in 2024

Aug. 25, 2026 | Charts of Note

According to USDA’s Economic Research Service, labor expenses accounted for about 15% of total cash expenses across all U.S. farms in 2024. But specialty crop farms, like vineyards and grapevine nurseries, had the highest labor expense share. Labor accounted for about 40 cents of every dollar of cash expenses on these farms, nearly three times the all-farm average. At the other end, labor represented just 4% of cash expenses on corn farms and 6% on farms specializing in other commodity crops. 

This Year’s Record-Breaking El Niño in 3 Charts

Aug. 25, 2026 | The New York Times

El Niños typically reach their peak in December, with the heat that builds up near the surface of the tropical Pacific gradually making the entire planet warmer. But though gradual, this year’s heat is already breaking records. Scientists believe that, as this super El Niño gathers steam, 2027 will be the hottest year humans have ever experienced. The charts featured in this story are pretty staggering.

Insect Herbivory Time-Course Reveals Unique Temporal Transcriptomic Responses in Resistant And Susceptible Grapevines

Aug. 18, 2026 | Frontiers in Plant Science

Did you know that some grapevines are resistant to feeding by insects—and that resistance grows as the bugs munch? Researchers at the Ohio State University compared the responses to feeding by Japanese beetles of a native North American Vitis labrusca grapevine known to be resistant to insect feeding vs. those of a susceptible vinifera vine. They identified genes associated with insect repellent and insecticidal activities in labrusca, noting that they increased expression over the course of feeding and that the same genes (“orthologs”) were not present in the vinifera. The findings could help inform future breeding of grapevines that repel or can withstand insects.

Tarara: Heat Mitigation for Wine Grapes

Aug. 11, 2026 | Good Fruit Grower

Summer may be ending, but the heat will be back. When it returns, if protecting fruit quality us your goal, consider intermittent under-vine misting (also commonly known as fogging). WSU’s Markus Keller, Lav Khot and their labs designed a novel automated system with misting nozzles attached to a second drip irrigation tube. The goal was to control temperature in the fruit zone without applying extra irrigation. The fogging nozzles, rated at one gallon per hour, provide just enough water (less than one millimeter per day) to create evaporative cooling and drive down the temperature of both the canopy and fruit.

Find these stories and more, published every weekday on our Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

Oct. 20-22, 2026

FIRA USA

Yakima, WA

Nov. 10-11, 2026

Sustainable Ag Expo

San Luis Obispo, CA

Nov. 12, 2026

NGRA Year-End Board Meeting

Virtual event

Nov. 17-18, 2026

Northwest Center for Small Fruits Research Annual Conference

The Dalles, OR

Nov. 19, 2026

Southeastern United Grape and Wine Symposium

Dobson, NC

Dec. 3, 2026

WIN Expo

Santa Rosa, CA

Dec. 8-10, 2026

Great Lakes Expo 

Grand Rapids, MI

Jan. 14, 2027

Washington Winegrowers

Winter WineVit

Prosser, WA

Jan. 25, 2027

NGRA Annual Meeting of the Members & First-of-Year Board Meeting

Sacramento, CA

Jan. 26-28, 2027

Unified Wine & Grape Symposium

Sacramento, CA

National Grape Research Alliance

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