Wine grapes are a ‘new’ crop in the diversification of agriculture in Vermont which has exciting value-added and agri-tourism economic opportunities for farms and rural communities. Wine grapes are being planted on newly created farms or on established farms, such as dairy farms, as an alternative crop to increase profitability. Since Vermont’s grape growers are either totally new to agriculture or are farmers with limited or no experience in growing grapes, grape IPM knowledge is limited or lacking. It is a critical time in the development of this emerging agricultural industry to provide IPM education and information, including basic information on identification and disease/life cycles of the major grape diseases and arthropod pests.

The primary goal of the Vermont IPM Wine Grape Program is to continue to develop and implement an IPM program through stakeholder input and collaboration which addresses the educational needs of the emerging wine grape industry in the state. Various means of education and information transfer are being used such as a cold climate wine grape production website, newsletter, presentations, one-to-one education, etc. In particular, a very successful vineyard tour/workshop was conducted this past year.

The Cold Climate Grape IPM program has been rated very highly by growers. Growers have stated: “I have spent money and time searching for information that would assist me in growing grapes in northern ( Newport ) Vermont. The information in your newsletters is far better than anything I have been able to find anywhere else.”; “I just wanted to give you a 'virtual pat on the back' for the great viticulture outreach work you're doing, both your website and the power point presentations I've come across on the internet. You've obviously got the energy and skills to help improve cold climate viticulture.”, etc. In addition, all of the participants (i.e., 100%) who evaluated the vineyard tour/workshop said they increased their awareness and knowledge of IPM and safe pesticide use and all (100%) said the information presented would be used in their own vineyard operation.