Specialty Crop Block Grant Program
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| The Specialty Crop Block Grant program awarded WSU researcher Tom Collins money to assess the effect of smoke on wine grapes and wine. He was one of 22 recipients announced this month. |
How can a vintner tell if the smoky air from a bad fire season is bad enough to damage grape and wine quality at an exposed vineyard? Not well enough, according to one Washington State University researcher who was recently awarded a grant of nearly a quarter of a million dollars to study a better way to assess the question.
During a vineyard smoke exposure from the wildfires that seem more and more common in recent years, smoke aroma compounds can be absorbed into skin cells of the grape berries and later extracted from the skins into the wine during the fermentation process. But the industry’s method of determining when the exposure will actually taint the wine is inadequate, according to WSU researcher Tom Collins.
Collins is creating a systems-level metabolic network model using analytical tools and machine-learning techniques to take into account wine variety, smoke composition, and fermentation time to create a risk assessment for smoke taint.
The grant is one of 22 projects funded by $4.79 million Washington State Department of Agriculture received from the United States Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant.
Specialty crops are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture).
The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBG) was created to support the competitiveness of the specialty crop industry through the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. In awarding these funds, WSDA selected projects that will directly benefit specialty crop producers, address critical issues to the industry, and contain strong performance measures.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) will fund 22 projects, with awards ranging from $51,000 to $500,000 to nonprofit and for-profit organizations, government entities, and universities.
Projects were selected through a competitive two-phase process with a focus on Plant Health and Pest Management, Small Farm Direct Marketing/International Marketing, Soil Health, Food Safety, Innovative Technologies, Training and Education, as well as Innovative Technologies.
WSDA’s project abstracts for 2019 can be found here.
For information about the program, visit the SCBG webpage. To apply for one of next year’s grants, create an account at the 2020 Specialty Crop Block Grant page. For additional SCBG information, go to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service webpage or contact WSDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program manager Leisa Schumaker or 360-902-2091.