Crop Estimation for Harvest Planning

PORTLAND, NEW YORK (July 2, 2019) -- Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County’s Lake Erie Regional Grape Program (LERGP) is holding a crop estimation meeting and fruit thinning demonstration at The Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Laboratory (CLEREL), 6592 West Main Rd, Portland, NY on July 11th from 1:00 - 2:30 PM with a light lunch starting at 12:30 PM.

The grape bloom date was officially called at the station on June 20, 2019, which is six days later than the historical average of June 14th. The last time bloom was this late was in 2002. It is imperative for the health of your vines and next year’s crop to assess your crop estimation. Please join us!

Inaccurate yield forecasts have implications for both growers and processors of Lake Erie grapes. For processors, errors in yield prediction have major effects for the planning of delivery schedules, allocation of tank space and fermentation or concentration equipment, staffing of personnel and negotiation of contracts with growers for the future. Crop load management is dependent on accurate spatial assessment of vine size and crop. For growers, making crop load management decisions that ensure adequate ripening of fruit and promote perennial vineyard health is futile without an accurate estimate of what harvest yield will be. This estimate must be made while there is still time in the season to see benefits from correcting crop imbalances.

The LERGP is committed to providing researched based management tools and guidance to aid our region stakeholders to get the most out of their vines in a sustainable way. This program will be informational and provide applied science management tools. Increasing accuracy of crop estimates will provide numerous benefits from the grower to processor level including optimized scheduling of labor, especially, particularly scarce, transportation labor, efficient coordination of space for fruit and juice, improved delivery scheduling, reliable reporting to government agencies and distributors, early projection of revenues, proactive filing of crop insurance claims if the estimate is critically low and a reliable basis to make crop reduction decisions if the estimate is critically high. Join us on July 11th at CLEREL for discussion on crop estimation from a Welch’s representative, crop insurance discussion, crop load research based decision making by Dr. Terry Bates followed by a mechanical fruit thinning demonstration.

The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is a cooperative effort between Cornell and Penn State Universities; the participating Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations of Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara and Cattaraugus Counties in New York and Erie County in Pennsylvania; and participating industry partners National Grape Cooperative (Welch’s), Constellation Brands and Walkers Fruit Basket. The LERGP extension team provides research-based educational programming for commercial grape growers throughout the year at venues across the Lake Erie grape belt. For more information on LERGP, call 716-792-2800 or visit our website at http://lergp.cce.cornell.edu/.

The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is one of many programs offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County (CCE-Chautauqua). CCE-Chautauqua is a community based educational organization, affiliated with Cornell University, Chautauqua County Government, the NYS SUNY system, and the federal government through the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. For more information, call 716-664-9502 or visit our website at www.cce.cornell.edu/chautauqua. Cornell University Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.

Last updated July 2, 2019