Media contact:
Misti Preston
Phone: (573) 751-8596
Misti.Preston@mda.mo.gov

For Immediate Release: May 13, 2008

Viticulture Field Day Offers Opportunities for Grape Growers to Learn Disease Management

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – The Missouri Wine & Grape Board and the Missouri Grape Growers’ Association have announced the dates for the 2008 Viticulture Field Day, a networking and educational opportunity for grape growers across the region. The event will be held June 3, 2008 at Crown Valley Winery in Ste. Genevieve, Mo. The Field Day is sponsored by the Missouri Grape Growers’ Association and the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology.

"Missouri’s wine industry continues to grow and is home to over 70 wineries," said Jim Anderson, executive director of the Missouri Wine & Grape Board. "The Viticulture Field Day will offer many of our grape growers a chance to hear about disease management and control in the Midwest."

In addition to research plot tours, this year’s Field Day will include two top specialists on grape disease control in the nation: Wayne Wilcox, of Cornell University, and Turner Sutton, of North Carolina State University. Dr. Wilcox will present "Downy and Powdery Mildews: Biology and Management." Dr. Sutton will present "Summer Bunch Rots and their Management."

"The 2008 Viticulture Field Day provides a venue for grape growers from across the region to gather, network and learn about current research happening in the field and how the research findings may impact the industry as a whole," said Sarah Schmidt, incoming president of the Missouri Grape Growers’ Association.

The Viticulture Field Day is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and costs $15 per person and includes lunch. Deadline to register is May 23. To register for the meeting or if you are interested in exhibiting, contact Jennifer Rhodus, Missouri Grape Growers’ Association, at marcovineyard@wildblue.net or call (573) 562-2968.

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