Since 2006, honey bees nationwide have suffered significant population declines. According to the USDA, the causes are numerous. However, recent scientific evidence points to the role of pesticides in weakening bee’s immume systems....
The Frontenac wine grape started with a graduate student on a canoe trip. While paddling through the suburbs of Minneapolis during 1976, a University of Minnesota graduate student named Patrick Pierquet found the wild...
Shannon Gunier is well aware of the stigma associated with grape brokers. ‘When we first started our business, it was almost a taboo subject,” says the California based co-owner of North Coast Winegrape Brokers....
I began collecting data for this subject two years ago in response to the rapid growth of viticulture in Minnesota and other Northern regions. This article is based on my own experience of growing...
When the Marechal Foch wine grape was introduced in 1920, the name “Foch” probably seemed like a winner. At the time, WW I French General Ferdinand Foch was a well know public figure...
To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And...
Growers know what frost is, but few may understand the physics behind how it develops. Such an understanding is useful when figuring out how to protect your vines from frost damage. At Shur Farms,...
The Elmer Swenson Preservation Project set out to protect and establish Elmer’s most promising and little known selections for future testing and evaluation. The pioneers of the original project did an amazing job collecting...
Heavy rains and cloudy days early in the growing season may have delayed maturation of grape crops in some areas of the Midwest, but hot conditions in August triggered heavy crops in time for...
How many clusters should I have on my grape vines? Good question. It varies by age of the vine, vineyard site, weather, cluster size, cultivar and individual vine vigor. This is the gray area...