Dr. Greg Jones is the Director of the Evenstad Center for Wine Education, holds the Evenstad Chair in Wine Studies, and is a professor and research climatologist in the Department of Environmental Studies at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon. He specializes in the study of climate structure and suitability for viticulture, and how climate variability and change influence grapevine growth, wine production, and quality. Dr. Jones will present on how climate change is and may soon impact viticulture in California and across the Western US.

Greg Pennyroyal is currently the Vineyard Manager at Wilson Creek Winery and Vineyards in Temecula, California and a Professor of Viticulture at Mt. San Jacinto Community College. He has over 25 years of experience in a wide range of fields, including agricultural production, medicinal plant production, and genomics in traditional medicine. He is interested in bringing the benefits of traditional food, medicine, and agriculture to modern society. Mr. Pennyroyal will share his perspective on climate and healthy soils in southern California.

Dr. Lisa Micheli is the President and CEO of Pepperwood and the Dwight Center for Conservation Science. She started her career at the US Environmental Protection Agency and then completed her graduate studies at UC Berkeley as a NASA Earth Systems Research Fellow. She now focuses her research on relationships between climate, wildfire, watershed health, and biodiversity and has published numerous studies on river restoration, climate adaptation, and community-based approaches to biodiversity conservation.

Dr. Micheli will explain trends in climatic water deficits during the Symposium.

Kelly Mulville is the Vineyard Director at Paicines Ranch. For the past 25 years, Kelly has managed and consulted with vineyards, farms, and ranches throughout the western US, Spain, Australia, and China. His studies include Ecological Horticulture at UC Santa Cruz, Viticulture at UC Davis, and Holistic Management with Allan Savory. His work is focused on combining farming and viticulture with holistic management in order to design and manage more ecologically, socially, and economically sound farming practices. This usually involves a considerable amount of help from livestock, which ties in nicely with his grazing focus for the Symposium.

Dr. Cristina Lazcano is a Soil Biologist and Assistant Professor of soil ecology at the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources at UC Davis. For the past five years, Dr. Lazcano’s research has focused on winegrapes, but she has also worked with various crops such as corn, tomatoes, and strawberries. Through on-farm collaborative research, Dr. Lazcano hopes to help winegrape producers understand how to improve soil health and carbon sequestration while producing high quality grapes. Dr. Lazcano will speak about the soil biome, with an emphasis on compost.

North Coast Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) have been an integral part of the North Coast Soil Hub, which includes growers and many partners throughout the region. Currently coordinated by RCDs in Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, the Soil Hub has recently expanded to include Marin and Lake Counties, and we are excited to continue broadening our focus beyond the vineyard industry. Representatives from the RCD coordinator team will be sharing the latest updates about the vineyard soil health assessments project.