– A team of West Coast university researchers received a $7.65 million grant to study the impact of smoke on grapes and wine. The research project is expected to produce new insights, strategies and tools to help wine grape growers and winemakers prevent or better manage the damage to grape quality and wine that can result when wildfire smoke events occur.
WSU researchers will use funding from the U.S Department of Agriculture grant to develop disease and pest resistant hops as well as biocontrols that feed on damaging insects.
WSU part of $7 6 million study of smoke exposure on grapes and wine – WSU Insider wsu.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wsu.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Credit: UC Riverside
UC Riverside is unique among universities in having a highly recognized avocado breeding program first developed 70 years ago.
New grants totaling $6.3 million will help UC Riverside solve problems facing American avocado orchards, including a lethal fungal disease called Laurel Wilt.
Laurel Wilt can destroy an entire avocado orchard in a couple of weeks once symptoms develop. It is already present in Florida. Without effective treatments, it will inevitably spread to California, which is the nation’s leading producer of avocados.
Laurel Wilt is caused by a fungus, Raffaelea lauricola, that the non-native redbay ambrosia beetle introduces in trees of the Laurel family, which includes avocado.