LERGP Welcomes Heather Barrett

JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK (February 20, 2019) -- Cornell Cooperative Extension Chautauqua County’s Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is pleased to announce a new addition to the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program extension team. Heather Barrett was hired in January as the Program Aide to the Outreach and Technology Adoption team of the Efficient Vineyard project which explores the use of sensors, imaging systems and variable rate technology in the vineyard. Her role will be to help manage the dissemination of project information collected as a result of the USDA/NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant. Heather will be responsible for maintaining up to date information on the official website for the Efficient Vineyard project at efficientvineyard.com. She will be presented with scientific papers written by the Efficient Vineyard researchers and will be tasked with rewriting them so that the information is more easily understood. Using this information, the extension team is able to extend the information to the growers and industry members here in the Lake Erie Grape Belt.

Heather comes to the project from Brocton, New York. She has earned her Master’s Degree in Biology as well as her Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from The State University of New York at Fredonia. Heather has completed independent research and has participated in a variety of field work. She looks forward to interpreting research results focused on making vineyards more sustainable for future production. Heather also looks forward to working with growers to learn more about the grape industry in this area and help them to understand how this emerging technology can help them to adapt their management practices to reduce labor and input costs while also making the vineyard more productive.

Heather has already been able to lend her hand to the crew at CLEREL to help collect valuable research data across the vineyards at the lab in the form of pruning weights. She looks forward to helping out where needed in the vineyard phase of the project as the growing season approaches.

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 February 20, 2019