To understand the importance of research and to encourage grower adoption, research teams need to communicate results and consider the social and economic impacts of the work in real life. This team’s main objectives are to 1) learn about how growers make nutrient management decisions, 2) estimate the economic impact of vineyard nutrition, and 3) communicate project results to stakeholders. Progress by team members is noted below by objective.
- Estimating the economic impact of vineyard nutrition
The team is working on a meta-analysis of existing vineyard nutrient and production data to determine the importance of key nutrients. There is a lot of data on vineyard nutrient status that has not been published by researchers that is available to this team. The team also solicited growers and consultants for data from production vineyards. This data is being used with publicly available weather data to understand the impacts of different climates across the US on the relation of grapevine nutrition to yield. It will be used to develop models that explain relationships between fertilization, nutrient status, crop yield, and quality.
- Grower decision making in nutrient management
A nation- and industry-wide survey was conducted in 2021 at the outset of the study to understand nutrient management of the wine, table, raisin, and juice grape producers. The research team obtained information on how growers evaluate vineyard nutrition, the nutrients of most concern, how they fertilize, how important they think plant nutrition is, and more. Most respondents indicated that plant nutrition is only 5-10% of their annual vineyard production cost. However, 73% indicated that nutrient management was ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important to achieve yield or quality targets. You can access the survey report here.
- Communicating project research results
This team is responsible for ensuring project results are shared with the industry. To date, a project website has been created (congratulations, you are here!). Project events, updates, and results are shared through social media outlets. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn!
Researchers (see details here)
- Patty Skinkis, Oregon State University
- John Woodill, Oregon State University
Research Lab Staff
Alejandro Abarca, PhD student, Oregon State University
Alejandro is studying applied economics and working as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. John Woodill. His research focus includes econometric modelling necessary to study the economic impact of nutrient management decisions in vineyards.
Nataliya Shcherbatyuk, Project Manager, Washington State University
As project manager, Nataliya plays an important role in both internal and external outreach of the project. She assists the Social and Economics Research Team in coordinating and communicating outreach as part of the project. She works most closely with project co-directors Dr. Patty Skinkis and Dr. Markus Keller to achieve outreach deliverables, including creating content and managing social media and web resources.
