Cultivars like Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and others have long been grown in the region, but they’re now facing threats on two fronts – a changing climate and regulatory pressure.

Why it matters: Experts predict a long-term loss of vineyards and landscape if no action is taken.

According to the Huglin Index, which is used to estimate the suitability of geographical regions for growing grape varieties, temperatures in southern Germany have been rising over the last 40 years, increasing pressure from fungal diseases like downy mildew, powdery mildew and botrytis.

At the same time, the European Union’s Green Deal means growers are losing access to crop protection products as the EU aims to cut use in half by 2030 under its Farm to Fork framework.

“Grape growers are happy to reduce plant protection, but they also want a crop and from my view, it’s not possible without some protection,” says professor Rheinhard Toepfer, head of the Julius-Kuehn-Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof.

“Do we want landscapes with viticulture and tourism? If we don’t, we can stop spraying but then we will have forests starting. It’s very simple.”

That’s why the team at the research station, which was first mentioned as a farm in the records of the nearby monastery in 1184, is working on new cultivars that allow growers to maintain quality and meet sustainability goals.

According to Toepfer, all of Germany’s popular cultivars are susceptible to fungal diseases. Growers have traditionally used crop protection products, but fungicide reduction brings a resurgence of other problems, like black rot.

“Climate change is a huge problem because cultivars are losing their optimal window of cultivation, and although the EU says we need to reduce pesticides by 50 per cent by 2030, it is not realistic to achieve that in seven years,” he says.

“To be sustainable and fight climate change, we need new cultivars. These are the realities for viticulture in northern Europe.”

Breeding is not a quick fix, however. It can take up to 25 years from first seedling to approved cultivar, with breeders first and foremost looking at quality, followed by yield, disease and stress resistance and agronomic characteristics.

Calardis Blanc is a new class of cultivars called PIWI, short for Pilzwiderstandsfaehig, which means fungal resistant. It is showing resistance against powdery and downy mildew, black rot, botrytis and sun burn, while also meeting grower needs for quality and yield.

It was first crossed in 1993, received variety protection in 2018 and was approved for use in 2020, with approximately 125 acres grown in Germany as of 2022.

“It’s a fresh fruit wine with upright growth, making labour easier, and its high levels of resistance mean that plant protection savings of 70 to 80 per cent are possible (compared to traditional varieties),” says Toepfer, adding that some plant protection is still needed because resistance is not 100 per cent.

Of Germany’s approximately 247,000 acres of wine grape production, just over 8,600 acres are in PIWI varieties. Growers have been somewhat reluctant to adopt the new varieties, he notes, as they worry about performance, yield, and consumer acceptance.

Many vineyards are also steeped in centuries of tradition, but Toepfer believes in the PIWIs’ potential, estimating an overall possible market share of 20 to 30 per cent.

“There are blending options, as well as sparkling wines and Cuvée – there are lots of options to go into the market, but market introduction takes time. It’s an evolution, not a revolution, and it’s a question of storytelling,” he says, adding he believes the idea of climate-adapted wines will resonate with consumers.

For growers, he believes the loss of treatments combined with proven crop protection reduction and political pressure will be the impetus for more farmers to try PIWI varieties.

To date, 83 PIWI grape varieties are classified, registered and approved for grower use in Germany, with a further 131 numbered breeding strains that are showing promise.

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The federal ag lender on Tuesday said it will offer an unsecured credit line of up to $500,000 with loan processing fees waived, “to help producers, agribusinesses and agri-food operations with their immediate cash flow needs.”

FCC said it’s making the offer to both new and existing customers who are “experiencing financial difficulties, including cash flow challenges, due to higher-than-average input costs and elevated interest rates.”

While the Bank of Canada has maintained its policy rate since January, FCC warned in a March outlook that “additional intervention” could still be required to get inflation to two per cent.

Elevated inflation and interest rates are expected to slow consumer spending and business investments, FCC said in March, adding that if the U.S. Federal Reserve continues raising its policy rate, that could lead to a lower Canadian dollar if the Bank of Canada extends its pause.

A global economic slowdown has also resulted in lower growth in Canadian ag and food export volume, FCC said at the time.

Cost pressures in the “current economic environment” are difficult to pass on, FCC said Tuesday, and that’s led to “tough financial circumstances for some operations.”

“While the current experiences of individual operations within the different agriculture and food sectors are varied, we hope those who identify with these challenges will use this credit line as an opportunity to work through their current position and build back stronger than before,” FCC chief operating officer Sophie Perreault said in a release.

FCC reiterated it can offer flexibility to customers who are going through “challenging business cycles and unpredictable circumstances” on a case-by-case basis, such as through flexible payment options, payment deferrals or credit lines.

For example, the lender said last Thursday it would consider additional short-term credit options, deferral of principal payments and/or other loan payment schedule amendments for customers in B.C.’s wine sector up against financial hardship following “prolonged cold temperatures” last winter that caused significant damage to wine grapevines.

FCC said May 16 it would also consider similar supports for maple syrup producers in Eastern Canada following an “unfavourable change in temperature this spring” that shortened the maple syrup harvest in most parts of the region.

“This limited harvest can cause financial challenges for farm operations – not to mention personal hardship and stress,” Manon Duguay, FCC’s vice-president of operations for Quebec and Atlantic Canada, said in a separate release at the time.

“We stand by our customers over the long term, helping them pursue opportunities and overcome challenges, and this year’s unfavourable temperature has certainly been challenging for many maple syrup business owners.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“This funding will allow grape growers to rapidly improve the health of their vineyards and boost the domestic capacity in the supply of much needed virus-free grapevine plant material in Canada,” says Sudarsana Poojari, senior scientist at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI).

Why it matters: Virus-free starter crops are critical for successful yearly planting, but are hard to develop without larger industry effort.

Poojari is leading a team of scientists advancing clean plant extraction sequencing diagnostics, known as CLEANSED, which is an initiative funded by Brock University’s CCOVI, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Canadian Grapevine Certification Network (CGCN-RCCV), the University of Victoria, Genome Canada, Genome BC, Genome Quebec, Ontario Genomics, Agriculture and Agri Food Canada (AAFC), Compute Canada, Conseil des vins du Québec and Illumina.

CLEANSED is a is a high-throughput sequencing technology that allows growers to test for up to 30 viruses on approximately two-dozen grapevine planting composites in one go with a rapid return on results.

The CLEANSED financial boost is important to the Canadian grape and wine industry because virus infections cost it an estimated $23 million in losses each year.

Grapevine Red Blotch Virus (GBRV), which affects red cultivars such as a variety of Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec, as well as white cultivars such as Chardonnay and Riesling, has been detected in grapevine collections, nursery stock and established vineyards across North America.

The virus has spread rapidly across Canadian and specifically, Ontario vineyards. GRBV can cost $32,000 to $53,000 per hectare for vineyards with a 25-year lifespan and no control measures.

This type of impact set the development of certified virus-free grapevines and pest control management programs as a top priority for sustainability in the grape and wine sector.

“The solid science of the project will help our grape growers to quickly access healthy plants of diverse new varieties, resulting in increased production,” said Jaspinder Komal, of the CFIA. “Such approaches will be able to facilitate the adaptation of Canadian and world agriculture to climate change.”

Bill Schenck, vice-chair of CGCN-RCCV, said the timing could not be more perfect for this project as growers across the country continue to deal with viruses that affect crop quality and vine health.

“In order to put a vine through the system right now, it takes seven years to form an infected vine until it’s gone through a complete clean-up program,” said Schenck.

Schenck said if a grower has to pull up vines and replant it takes three years before the vines bear fruit. Only then will the viruses reveal themselves. If the vine block is infected, the grower starts again and has to wait another three years before they’re able to harvest which affects profitability.

This test would replace more than 30 tests currently being used to diagnose grapevine diseases and allow quicker release of certified virus-free material. Hans Buchler, CGCN-RCCV chair, said a regional approach is needed to eradicate diseases such as Red Blotch. Large scale testing will be needed.

“High throughput sequencing will make it economically feasible to test all plants used for propagation for all viruses of concern,” said Buchler. “And will greatly contribute to the availability of CGCN-RCCV certified virus-free grapevines to growers across Canada.” Buchler is optimistic CLEANSED technology will contribute to the reduction, and the eventual elimination of most virus infections in Canadian vineyards.

Research results

Research published in the Virology Journal in Dec. 2018 studied six major red cultivars and five major white grape cultivars in 33 vineyards across the Niagara Peninsula, Lake Erie North Shore and Prince Edward County. The study tested 657 composite leaf samples representing 3,285 vines collected from 137 vine blocks, and tested for 17 viruses including five leafroll-associated viruses, including grapevine red blotch virus, grapevine Pinot Gris virus. The results show infections with multiple viruses were common with 95.6 per cent of the samples being infected with at least one virus, with 67 per cent showing infection from two to four of the viruses.

“The major grape cultivars all tested positive for these major viruses,” said the study. “The results also suggested that the use of infected planting material may have been one of the chief factors responsible for the recent outbreaks of viral diseases across the province.”

Schenck said although a lot of the work is being done at CCOVI it’s also being done in other provinces and the collaboration between all these players was an integral part of their successful funding application.

“Currently there is no clean source of virus-free vines in Canada and most growers have turned to the (United) States to purchase the vines that they’re planting,” he said. “The beauty of this project is we brought in not only the universities in B.C. and Ontario but Quebec is involved and Nova Scotia. We’ve brought together all the key players in the grape industry.”

Buchler said the CGCN is amending its certification standards to allow vines tested and produced within the CLEANSED initiative to be available for commercial sale through the CGCN-RCCV Certification Program nursery participants.

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Peruvian interim President Francisco Sagasti called the death of a protester a “tragedy” and told reporters the government would immediately investigate the first casualty in demonstrations over farm worker rights and wages that began on Monday.

“We do not want anyone to die in protests to defend their labour rights,” Sagasti said.

The death of two young people in Lima last month led to the resignation of Sagasti’s predecessor, Manuel Merino, prompting renewed scrutiny of the actions of security forces in the Andean nation.

Farm workers alleged police had attacked protesters to clear roadways and tame the demonstrations, which spread northward from the country’s south into regions known for vast fields of table grapes, tangerines and blueberries.

“The workers … have been attacked by the police who have arrived in great numbers to prevent them from continuing to block the road,” said Juan Herrera, a national leader of agrarian workers.

Workers from Camposol, a major fruit exporter, joined the fray on Thursday. Farm labourers from agro-exporter Talsa announced they too would join the rallies on Friday.

“All activities have been paralyzed, there are no harvests, there is nothing. Grapes and asparagus are going bad, we are in the middle of the season for these two crops,” Fernando Cilloniz, a grape exporter, told Reuters.

One of four members in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that has yet to ratify that 11-nation trade pact, Peru is a major global exporter of blueberries as well as producing grapes, avocados and asparagus.

Canada, already a free trade partner with Peru since 2009, imports $324 million per year on average (2015-17) in Peruvian ag products including fruits, coffee and oils.

Hundreds of buses and tractor trailer trucks carrying fresh fruit were stranded for the fourth day along the Panamericana Sur highway 300 km south of Lima, prompting clashes with protesters blocking the roadways.

Negotiations between the government and protest leaders have failed to reach agreement, though lawmakers have committed to reviewing a decades-old agriculture promotion law that farm workers view as unjust.

— Reporting for Reuters by Maria Cervantes; writing by Dave Sherwood. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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Jason Hanson expects his crews may only harvest five tons of grapes, including his Chardonnay and Gamay varieties, down from the 25 to 30 tons his fields yielded last year. The birds can have the rest, he said, as the fruit has likely absorbed too much smoke to be salvaged and would produce wine that tastes like a “wet ashtray.”

“With the dense smoke that we’ve had at the ground level for so long now, almost everything has to be affected or damaged,” Hanson said. “I have a yearly fight with the birds. This year I’ll just let them win.”

The historic wildfires across the western U.S., home to the bulk of the country’s vineyards and major producers of crops from apples to zucchini, have ravaged farmers and ranchers already hard hit by the Trump administration’s trade wars and demand disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.

Atmospheric smoke has obscured grape-ripening sunlight while ash has coated green beans, cauliflower and other produce in nearby fields just days before scheduled harvesting. Poor air quality is slowing harvesting as farms limit fieldwork hours and some run low on particle-filtering masks due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For wineries, the wildfires have only deepened recent wounds. A drop in restaurant traffic and smaller crowds visiting vineyards for tastings had already been sapping key sources of revenue.

Many tasting rooms remain shuttered due to fire and smoke risks, while grapes awaiting harvest in storied wine regions such as Willamette Valley or California’s Napa and Sonoma Valleys may be damaged or ruined entirely.

Oregon, Washington state and California together produce about 90 per cent of all U.S. wine. The true impact on the US$70 billion industry will not be known for months as the typical wildfire season is only just beginning, and crop damage can vary greatly from field to field.

“You have a far greater potential for tainted wine the closer you are to the fire,” said Eric Jensen, owner of Booker and My Favorite Neighbor wineries in California’s Paso Robles region.

“We’re testing constantly and we believe in Paso we’ll be blessed because of the distance that the smoke traveled to get to us. But in Napa and Sonoma, the proximity is causing issues.”

Smoke has blanketed much of the U.S. West as fires have charred nearly five million acres, but some wine areas such as Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz and Monterey have been much closer to blazes than areas like Santa Barbara and Paso Robles.

Labs overwhelmed

Laboratories that test grapes for smoke contamination are overwhelmed this year, with some taking up to a month to return results, instead of less than a week normally. Vineyards use that data to gauge whether to harvest or not.

Winemakers and scientists are still learning how smoke can affect wine grapes and how the effects can be mitigated.

Australia has been at the forefront of research, as drought-fueled bushfires have riled its industry for years. But studies at American universities have ramped up over the past five years, helped by U.S. Department of Agriculture funding, as climate change is expected to increasingly impact U.S. wineries.

It is too soon to judge how the wildfires will impact 2020 vintages, but harvested grape supplies will likely be smaller, said Glenn Proctor, partner and broker at California-based Ciatti Global Wine + Grape Brokers.

Winemakers short of newly harvested grapes are expected to buy bulk wine from the 2019 season for blending with what is available from this year, he said. Fear of reputational risk will prevent winemakers from bottling and selling any wine with an unpleasant smoke taste, he said.

Ample supplies coming into this season should offset any shortfall from this year’s harvest so work-from-home Zoom Happy Hours will likely not notice any impact, he said.

“I still think we’re going to see some good wines coming out of 2020 because the growing conditions were great through the season,” Proctor said.

“The fires have put a question mark on everything but I’m still hopeful that most of those wines will play out.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Karl Plume in Chicago.

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Those same conditions are also producing lower yields, and the market demand for wines made from premium quality grapes is declining as consumers quench their pandemic thirst by buying cheaper blended wines.

Why it matters: Consumer buying tastes have changed during the pandemic but will those changes be here to stay?

Debbie Zimmerman, chief executive officer for Grape Growers of Ontario, says many higher quality grapes remain unsold as the market for cheaper, blended wines has outpaced demand for VQA varietals.

These blended wines are often comprised of 75 per cent imported product, and 25 per cent Ontario product, the latter being a minimum standard described in the province’s Wine Content and Labelling Act.

“That minimum 25 per cent can be the cheapest grapes they buy from us,” says Zimmerman. “It shouldn’t happen that we have to drop grapes on the ground and import to get a leg-up in our market.”

Zimmerman said although many wineries have seen good sales through the LCBO and online, the pandemic-induced lack of foot traffic at wineries has contributed to greater demand for cheaper products, and a corresponding drop for top Ontario varieties.

“Wineries were shuttered for months,” she says. “You want people to get a taste of your product before you buy…It’s important to understand where the wine comes from.”

This year’s crop suffered varying impacts during the season’s heat and drought with some varieties faring better than others.

“It really depends where you are and where the thunderstorms went through. We are definitely running dry,” says Scott Wilkins, grape grower and owner of Dancing Swallows winery in Amherstburg.

In late August for example, Wilkins says his vineyard and soybean acres received a fraction of the moisture seen in surrounding areas. This and similar events, combined with multi-week stretches of temperatures around 35C, led him to anticipate depressed yields.

It also raises quality concerns for some grape varieties, including those used to produce some aromatic white wines. Other varieties, such as red cabernet grapes, handle hot and dry conditions better.

“They are very ripe and lots of skin for extraction… but the crop will be smaller,” Wilkins says, though he adds it is still too early to be certain.

“A great harvest depends on the weather in September and October.”

Having opened his winery in June of this year, Wilkins says the pandemic has ensured him an interesting first few months. Once the region was allowed to open under Stage Three, however, support for local wineries, and local business in general, has been encouraging.

While conditions in the Niagara region reflect those seen in Essex County and elsewhere, access to irrigation has provided some grape growers east of Niagara’s Welland Canal with respite from the summer’s heat.

“If there’s one criticism this year it’s for a little more rain, but it’s a fine balance,” says Matthias Oppenlaender, a producer from the region.

Overall, he is not concerned about this year’s comparatively light crop. Hot and dry conditions, while not great for yield, do produce very high-quality grapes in key varietals. Vines also produce in cycles, he says, so a lighter crop this year is predictable given comparably weighty harvests in 2019.

“One more rain maybe would be good. We want warm and dry, and cool nights,” says Oppenlaender.

“It looks like we’re going to stay dry, so I’m excited about that.”

Kathryn Carter, fruit crop specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said many wine grape varieties are at or just past veraison, when they begin to change colour.

Other pressures, such as labour issues and yield reductions due to hail, disease, and birds, have been a challenge through the growing season.

Like Zimmerman, Carter also says reduced markets have been a challenge. Still, she reiterates 2020 will bring a good crop.

“Currently, it looks like the harvest will be slightly earlier than usual. We are seeing similarities with respect to the crop status in most of the grape growing regions.”

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Less well known, but nonetheless starting to make an impact on tourism and a burgeoning wine industry in cooler regions of North America are cold hardy wine grape cultivars, also from the University of Minnesota, like Marquette and La Crescent.

Why it matters: Cool climate fruit varieties give growers a chance to be competitive in their local markets, lessening dependence on imports and generating economic activity.

“The Honeycrisp has changed our industry,” said Charles Stevens, who grows apples and blueberries on his farm east of Toronto near Newcastle. “It’s the hardest apple in the world to grow in my opinion but it’s the easiest apple that I’ve ever seen to market. It didn’t need any advertising – people ate one and told 10 other people.”

First released in 1991, its distinctly crisp texture and juicy sweetness made it an instant hit with consumers, despite it being pricier than other apples.

But it’s that premium that makes it worthwhile for farmers to grow. Stevens was one of Ontario’s first Honeycrisp growers, planting his first trees in 2000; today it commands the biggest acreage in his orchard. Ontario-wide, it’s now the third most planted variety in the province with 10 per cent of the acreage, behind Gala and long-time stalwart Macintosh.

Honeycrisp grows best in cool climates and is hardy into the low minus 30C range. The cooler the summer, the better the apple will grow. Georgian Bay and eastern Ontario are most ideally suited in this province and elsewhere in Canada, Stevens believes Nova Scotia has the best Honeycrisp growing climate.

It’s the biennial nature of its fruit production that makes it a hard-to-grow apple. Without thinning the blossoms, growers have a bumper crop one year and virtually no crop the following year – and they only have a short window from time of pollination to get that thinning done, which means it must be done chemically.

As well, stems left on harvested Honeycrisp apples can puncture small holes into other apples, leading to rot in storage or after packing. Most growers now harvest this variety using small stem clippers.

“We’re still learning how to grow the apple as best as possible,” Stevens said.

The University of Minnesota is home to one of three university apple breeding programs in the U.S. Most of its older varieties have found regional popularity – Haralson, introduced in the 1920s, is still widely grown – but it’s newer ones like Honeycrisp and some of its more recently introduced offspring like SweeTango, Rave and First Kiss that are attracting attention.

According to Prof. Jim Luby, director of fruit breeding programs at the University of Minnesota, texture and flavour are the two leading characteristics their breeders select for, followed by appearance as a more distant third.

“Apple breeding is a dating program, like E-Harmony for apples, when two parents are matched for strengths and weaknesses,” Luby explained during a visit to the University of Minnesota arboretum. “Then it’s a mating program, like artificial insemination, where pollen is collected from father trees and exposed to mother tree flowers, which produces hybrid seeds that are germinated and grown to fruiting.”

And finally, he added, it’s also a testing program where offspring are evaluated once they’re producing fruit – and that’s where the real work begins. Luby and his team taste up to 500 apples per day, with most varieties discarded during the first year; he estimates about one in 15,000 ends up on the market as a new variety.

That can take 15 to 20 years and they’ve started using marker-assisted selection to help them make better selections sooner, as well as grafting seedlings onto dwarfing rootstock to help shorten the juvenile phase.

“The apple industry in the U.S is not excited about having GM apples to sell – we could speed up more but if you can’t use the product, it’s not much use,” he said.

According to Matthew Clark, assistant professor in grape breeding and enology, grape breeding at University of Minnesota mirrors what’s happening in apples.

“Native grapes have evolved with native pests and because they’ve adapted to different soils, they have interesting flavours,” Clark said. “Minnesota-specific issues are high humidity, a short and wet growing season and cold winter temperatures.”

Today, DNA markers are now used to screen grape plants when they are two to three inches high, and of the approximately 10,000 seeds started each year, about 1,000 will move forward to produce fruit.

Since 1997, the program has been releasing one new variety every five to 10 years. This includes Frontenac (1997), La Crescent (2002), Frontenac gris (2003), Marquette (2005) and most recently Itasca (2017).

“This has led to real jobs and tourism dollars,” he said. “In 1997, there were three commercial vineyards in Minnesota. Now we’re at almost 80.”

It is estimated that the University of Minnesota grape varieties create economic impact of $540 million USD, he added.

7 Vines Vineyard, about 35 km north of Minneapolis – St. Paul, is one of the state’s newer wineries. With the first vines planted in 2012, the winery now has 90 acres of Minnesota-bred cultivars. In addition to wine production, the focus has also been on turning their business into a destination for corporate events, weekend day trips from the city and weddings.

The Ontario government has recently expanded its VQA program to include Marquette on its list of approved grape varieties. This means winemakers in the province can sell wines using Marquette into the LCBO and at Farmers’ Markets. A number of wineries in Eastern Ontario are already growing Marquette – Pinot Noir is one of its grandparents, Clark says – due to its cold hardiness.

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Why it matters: Robots are capable of identifying factors in the environment and diseases on plants which are difficult to recognize to the naked human eye and process the information quickly. This robot will bring these factors into the grape industry.

Artificial intelligence can measure much more than what the human eye can detect and robots’ abilities to work around the clock brings features to the agriculture industry that humans can’t physically complete.

Drones are difficult to use for this sort of work because they fly above the canopy, says Duncan. He wants to create a robot that works from the ground to identify factors within and under the canopy.

Although working on the ground brings better identification strategies and capabilities, it creates more challenges with manoeuvering the device around the surroundings and topography.

When working on the ground there is more of a chance for the robot to run into a tree or a pond and it’s a hard problem to solve, says Duncan.

The team, working with the original robot created and sold by Korechi, started off with attaching a camera and some temperature probes to a radio controlled car but had issues with having to continuously follow the car to control it and they wanted the device to be completely automatic. They needed something with weight and the ability to plow through thick grass, navigate itself and have enough charge to run 24 hours a day.

In the fall of 2018, they began working with the Korechi robot, which was introduced to them through the McMaster Forge program. Korechi received funding from BioEnterprise, a Canadian leading agri-tech business focused on bringing innovations to the marketplace, at the beginning of this year to continue working on improving this project, in partnership with the Niagara College team.

The robot, known as Korechi Roamio, weighs around 400 lbs., it operates on a lithium battery, contains a generator back-up allowing it to run for 24 hours a day and has three antennas on top which help with the GPS.

Currently the team is working on the navigation system for the robot, then they will move towards the cameras and central server for the robot.

They hope to have it completed by May of this year to trial and ensure it’s completing and collecting the data it’s supposed to before attempting trials in actual vineyards in the late summer when the vineyards are close to harvest. Their ongoing work is funded by the Ontario Centres of Excellence.

Yield from grapes is not as vital as the quality of the grapes as they are made into wine.

The idea behind the Korechi Roamio is to help detect the climate within the vineyards helping to better handle diseases and crop harvest, leading to higher quality of grapes when harvested.

The robot is able to consistently capture readings within the vineyard. It can look at the colour of the grapes and identify the proper time of harvest. This aspect is very important says Andrew Nickel, a research associate working with Roamio, as grapes don’t all ripen at the same time. Allowing farmers to continuously harvest grapes at the proper time ensures quality and a high return on investment.

The Roamio will be able to identify the cold and hot spots within the vineyard allowing the farmer to take action before diseases develop in the hot climates, says Duncan.

The team at Niagara College Canada is working towards completing tasks with Roamio that people can’t do, not working towards replacing people, but having Roamio help alleviate labour challenge.

Updated May 6, 2019

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Global wine output is set to decrease by five per cent compared with last year to 259.5 million hectolitres (mhl), one of the three smallest volumes since 2000, the Paris-based International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) said in preliminary estimates for this year.

An expected 12 per cent drop in French production, to 41.9 mhl, and steep declines in Chile (down 21 per cent to 10.1 mhl), Argentina (down 35 per cent to 8.8 mhl) and Brazil (down 50 per cent to 1.4 mhl) accounted for most of the projected global fall, the OIV said.

South Africa was also expected to see a sharp decline in output, losing 19 per cent to 9.1 mhl.

A hectolitre represents 100 litres, or the equivalent of just over 133 standard wine bottles.

A plunge in French production has been widely anticipated after vineyards endured frost and hailstorms in spring and then drought during summer.

The smaller French output should allow Italy to maintain its position as the world’s largest wine producer with an expected 48.8 mhl, although this would be slightly below an estimated 50 mhl last year, the OIV said.

Production in Spain was set to edge up one per cent to 37.8 mhl, keeping it as the third-largest wine producer.

The U.S. would retain its fourth spot among wine producing countries, with output projected up two per cent at 22.5 mhl, while growth was also expected in Australia (up five per cent to 12.5 mhl) and New Zealand (up 34 per cent to 3.1 mhl).

The OIV’s initial global estimates lacked data from some countries, notably China for which it provisionally assumed stable production compared with last year at 11.5 mhl.

The headline worldwide production estimate of 259.5 mhl represented the midpoint of a working range of around 255 to 264 mhl, it said.

The OIV’s most recent data for Canada dates back to 2012, and pegs the country’s wine production that year at 570,000 hl, up from 565,000 in 2011.

— Reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz and Pascale Denis. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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Finance Minister Randy Delorey’s budget on Tuesday showed an overall $17.1 million net surplus position on $10.15 billion in total expenses and $10.26 billion in total revenues (minus $110.3 million in federal and municipal contributions earmarked for the Halifax Convention Centre project, deemed “not part of normal revenues”).

Apart from the new food bank tax credit, meant to encourage produce donations from farmers, the budget also calls for $3.5 million in new research, product development and market development funding for the province’s wine and vineyard sector.

That funding, Delorey said in his speech, “will pay for more research and development, and it will help our wine producers find new business in new markets… (and) means new products, new businesses and more opportunity in Nova Scotia.”

The wine sector funding follows a joint pledge in late March from the provincial and federal governments, worth $487,960 over two years, to set up a new wine analysis lab at Wolfville-based Acadia University.

The lab is expected to help meet the beverage sector’s “increasing demand” for chemical and sensory analysis services in Atlantic Canada. Wineries in the region today have to seek out such services at labs based in Ontario, Quebec or California.

For rural Nova Scotia, Tuesday’s budget also pledges another $6 million to back high-speed internet service for more homes and businesses.

Lack of available high-speed “is holding too many Nova Scotians back,” Delorey said, and also “hurts small businesses and places an unnecessary burden on potential entrepreneurs.”

Improving high-speed availability “won’t just benefit business (but) will create more connected citizens and consumers,” he said, committing the government to “work with our partners to develop a solution.”

The budget documents released Tuesday also commit the province’s Crop and Livestock Insurance Commission to develop new insurance programs in sectors such as grapes — and to introduce a “new, non-yield-based acreage loss program for vegetables” as an option to conventional “yield-based” insurance plans. — AGCanada.com Network

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