This report from Agricultural Finance and Management at Cornell , Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary Analysis Program, was published in a PRO-DAIRY alert distributed to an email list of nearly 7,000 dairy producers, agriservice and legislators...

This fact sheet series was written by Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY Agricultural Energy Systems engineer Lauren Ray and Peter Wright, and published in PRO-DAIRY e-Leader, a monthly e-Leader newsletter distributed to an email list of nearly 7,000 dairy...

This update was written by Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY Agricultural Energy Systems Engineer Lauren Ray and published in PRO-DAIRY e-Leader, a monthly e-Leader newsletter distributed to an email list of nearly 7,000 dairy producers, agriservice, and...

“Biopesticides” are moving into the mainstream. While earlier versions gained a reputation for only modest efficacy in comparison with conventional synthetic fungicides, new products are proliferating – and offer comparable performance that sometimes rivals the ‘gold standards’ that growers rely upon.

This fact sheet was written by Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY staff Kirsten Workman and Joe Lawrence and published in PRO-DAIRY e-Leader, a monthly e-Leader newsletter distributed to an email list of nearly 7,000 dairy producers, agriservice and...

This fact sheet was written by Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY Dairy Forage Systems Specialist Joe Lawrence and published in PRO-DAIRY e-Leader, a monthly e-Leader newsletter distributed to an email list of nearly 7,000 dairy producers, agriservice and...

This fact sheet was published in PRO-DAIRY e-Leader, a monthly e-Leader newsletter distributed to an email list of nearly 7,000 dairy producers, agriservice and legislators. Significant focus is on the cost and availability of key inputs for...

How many grapes are in a bottle of wine? I have a colleague who teaches people to make cider, and when someone asks him a question that is highly dependent on variables, conditions and circumstances, he replies by asking back: how long is a...

Downy Mildew is caused by an Oomycete. What’s an Oomycete? Why does it matter? So What’s an Oomycete, and Why Aren’t They Considered To Be Fungi? One of the groups of organisms that cause many serious plant diseases are known as the Oomycota or...

How Grapevine Roots Grow Compared to the above-ground portions of a grapevine, root structure and function is more of a mystery to most growers. Roots extract nutrients and water from the soil, and are also the dominant storage organ for...

How Grapevine Flowers Form Ed. Note: This summary is based largely on material found in Chapter 2 of Markus Keller’s book The Science of Grapevines (first edition). Thanks to Martin Goffinet for the figures and a helpful review of this article...

Potassium - From the Soil to the Wine Potassium (K) is the most abundant cation in plant tissues, grapes, juices, and wines. Several factors affect K availability in the soil, K uptake by vines, concentration of K in the fruit, and ultimately...

How Grapevines Respond to Water Stress Water relations are a key factor in grapevine growth and development. Plants take up water to maintain cell turgor, to make and expand new tissues, to provide evaporative cooling, and to facilitate gas...

Managing Black Rot Black rot (Guignardia bidwellii (Ellis)) is a potentially devastating fungal disease that can infect the leaves, shoots, berries and cluster stems of grapes. Susceptibility to black rot varies greatly by variety, but it can be...

Vine Balance and the Role of Vineyard Design [Ed. Note: This article is adapted from both an eXtension article entitled Vine Balance and the Role of Vineyard Design, and a presentation entitled Rootstock Performance and Interactions with...

Untangling the Concepts of Vine Size, Capacity, Crop Level, Vigor, and Vine Balance Grapevines use nutrients and water from the soil and sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into leaves, fruit, canes, trunks, and roots. Producing optimal yields of...

Bud Fruitfulness and Yield As grapes enter dormancy, the maximum crop potential for the next growing season has already been determined. Each compound bud has the potential to produce three shoots from the primary, secondary, and tertiary buds...

Conversion Factors: From Vineyard to Bottle As with any question of this nature, there are a lot of variables to consider. What kind of grapes are we talking about? Have they swelled up with rain or dehydrated because of sun or noble rot? How...

Formal and Informal Wine Sensory Evaluation Swirl, sniff, sip, and swallow: most wine drinkers know the routine for wine evaluation. But what about sensory evaluation in the lab, wine cellar, tasting room, and wine competitions? Here we review...