Shutdown Averted. New One Looms
Congress avoided yet another government shutdown last week, when the Senate on Friday night approved a House-passed “minibus” appropriations bill for $460 billion and sent it to President Biden to sign just in the nick of time. This latest “continuing resolution” represents a little less than half of total government spending, and includes Agriculture as one of its components—good news for our industry. However, it’s not good news for the Farm Bill, which just stays where it has been.
The drama continues, with the next deadline now less than a week away, and this round will be far more contentious due to the agencies involved, increasing the chances of a true government shutdown. Meanwhile, with all the attention and energy focused on budget battles, our other legislative priorities are essentially being ignored.
EWE and LTS
This week, WineAmerica staff visited Syracuse, NY to attend the Eastern Winery Expo and its marketing component, License to Steal (LTS), organized by the incredible, indefatigable Donnie Winchell of Ohio. Michael Kaiser and I both presented, and we were joined by Tara Good offering wines from our members to the many eastern and midwestern winery personnel in attendance.
While the focus of our work is on Washington, DC. attending annual winery conferences around the country is an important component, helping us understand what is happening locally. Michael has had a particularly busy spring, with appearances in Oregon, Texas, and Illinois as well as at EWE.
Vital Associations: National Grape Research Alliance
Research is a vital but often overlooked part of the American wine industry’s success, possibly because compared with promotion it is largely silent and takes a long time. Having a strategic plan for research is a must, which is where the National Grape Research Alliance comes in.
I have been on the NGRA Board since it was founded as the National Grape and Wine Initiative in 2005, and it has never been stronger or more effective than it is today under the superb leadership of President Donnell Brown. Here is her brief description of NGRA’s purpose and accomplishments.
Est: 2005 (as National Grape and Wine Initiative)
HQ: Sacramento, CA
Members: Wineries, grape growers, processors, commissions and co-ops, regional and state boards, and other nonprofit trade organizations all across the country
Mission: Drive research to maximize the productivity, sustainability and competitiveness of the U.S. grape industries
The National Grape Research Alliance (NGRA) is a nonprofit membership organization representing the research needs of all sectors and all regions of the American grape and wine industry, spanning wine, table grapes, juice and raisins, nationwide. We connect industry, academic scientists, and federal and state research agencies to initiate novel research projects and programs to solve industry challenges. Since our founding in 2005, we’ve been instrumental in securing $65 million in funding for scientific solutions to grape and wine industry issues.
NGRA can be thought of as a strategic planning organization for grape research, as our members work together to prioritize the next big projects to pursue—and proactively bring that research to life. Examples of NGRA-initiated research include:
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Efficient Vineyard – This project delivered cost-saving innovations in variable rate vineyard management, including the freely available web-based MyEV tool and Flash sensor, that help to reduce inputs, and improve quality and efficiency.
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VitisGen – This marker-assisted breeding project, now in its third phase, focuses on identifying the genetic basis of powdery mildew resistance, accelerating breeding efforts and developing new breeding lines with durable resistance to one of the grape and wine industry’s most devastating fungal diseases.
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HiRes Vineyard Nutrition – This team is developing sensors and decision support tools to assess and leverage vine nutrition to improve quality, sustainability and profitability—in the field in real time. The team also is re-evaluating sampling protocols and longstanding vine nutrition guidelines.
Sign up for NGRA’s monthly newsletter—the only publication for grape and wine industry members that focuses exclusively on research-related news—at graperesearch.org/newsletter.