Hans Buchler
The role of research for the BC Wine Grape Council (BCWGC) and it’s predecessor, the R&D committee of the BC Wine Institute, have been developing and funding research projects for the past one-and-a-half decades.
The BCWGC’s purpose is to improve the quality and sustainability of both wine grapes and wine through industry-initiated research and education.
We have conducted research at the Pacific Agriculture Research Centre (PARC) in Summerland as well as at a few academic institutions (UBC Vancouver and Okanagan and Simon Fraser University).
These past few years most projects were funded with industry money matched by federal contributions from the Developing Innovative Agriculture Products (DIAP) program.
It is no secret that in recent years the federal support for PARC has declined considerably. Some positions are now vacant because after those in the positions retired no replacements were hired while others are due to straight forward budget and staffing cuts.
The current federal government seems to be of the opinion that agriculture research should, in the long run, be conducted by private companies or academic institutions and less and less by the Federal Research Branch.
While there are a few specific, time limited projects that can be executed by the private or academic sectors, much of what we do is ongoing research in the fields of sustainability and quality enhancement. Most of these projects build on past findings and accomplishments and require continuity in staff and effort.
Despite those cutbacks, a few examples of accomplishments to date:
• In the field of entomology we have improved the knowledge related to leafhopper control, which has resulted in a reduction of insecticide use.
• We have documented some secondary insect pest outbreaks caused by excessive or poorly timed insecticide use.
• We are currently conducting very promising research in using cover crops to reduce the populations of climbing cutworms, which can on occasion cause significant damage in some vineyards.
• As far as diseases are concerned, we have improved the approach to powdery mildew control through the validation of climatic models (this area still needs more work) and improved knowledge of sour rot causing agents and climatic conditions favouring this disease.
• Currently we are working on developing a trunk disease diagnostic tool that will be able to quickly identify up to 35 causal agents, resulting in the ability to identify problems at a very early stage.
Both grape quality and overall sustainability are important growing issues impacted by the amount and timing of irrigation. As water will become less available due to climate change impacts and increased competing uses (e.g. development) these water issues will become more and more critical.
We have studied the influence of cultural practices on vegetative flavours (pyrazines) in wine and looked at fertilizer regimes and their impact on fermentation. Most of these studies are conducted in commercial vineyards, which is facilitated by GPS mapping of almost all vineyards in the region.
Much of this would have been very difficult to achieve without PARC and the outstanding researchers and staff working there.
Future research will focus on further reduction of inputs through better decision making tools, continuous optimization of grape and wine quality, adaptation to climate change and changing consumer preferences and early detection and response to new threats.
Latest findings of most DIAP projects will be presented at the annual BCWGC conference, which will be held in Penticton on July 15 and 16