PORTLAND — New federal regulations, re-emerging pests, advances in variable rate technology and depressed markets has made the production of grapes in the Lake Erie region of New York and Pennsylvania increasingly complex.

To assist growers in working through the maze of constantly changing information that is crucial to their profit margin, the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is hosting a Summer Growers’ Conference.

Conference speakers will help to take the confusion out of the changes to the Worker Protection Standard regulations, explain the ins and outs of how sensors and variable rate technology fit into the Efficient Vineyard project, and how and why there is so much late-season grape berry moth damage and what can be done about it?

Not only will participants learn about these topics and more — they will also be eligible to receive the highly sought-after New York State DEC and PDA pesticide recertification credits (up to 2.5 for New York and 5 for Pennsylvania).

The LERGP Summer Growers’ Conference will be held on Aug. 11 in the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Laboratory meeting room, 6592 W. Main Road, Portland. The conference will start at 9 a.m. and adjourn by 4 p.m. The cost includes a day of education and a catered lunch and is $20 for members of LERGP. With online pesticide credits going at $30 per credit, it is like you are paying yourself $55 to attend.

The conference is geared toward commercial grape growers, but is open to anyone interested in how grapes are grown now and in the future.

The following are the talks and presenters for this year’s conference:

¯ Using the Grape Berry Moth Model on NEWA — Tim Weigle, NYS IPM Program and Andy Muza, LERGP, Penn State

¯ Managing Resistance and Late Season Fungicide Applications — Bryan Hed, LERGP, Penn State

¯ Insect Update — Jody Timer, LERGP, Penn State

¯ Update on Changes in the Worker Protection Standard Regulations — Michael Nierenberg, NYS DEC

¯ Precision Vineyard Imaging — Dr. Stephen Nuske, Carnegie Melon University

¯ Variable Rate Shoot Thinning: The How’s and Whys — Jackie Dresser and Rhiann Jakubowski, LERGP

¯ “Efficient Vineyard” SCRI Project Update — Terry Bates, LERGP, CLEREL director

¯ Economics of Using Cover Crops — Kevin Martin, LERGP, Penn State

¯ Efficient Vineyard Project — James Taylor, New Castle University

To register, visit the LERGP website, https://lergp.cce.cornell.edu, and look in the Upcoming Events or Announcements sections.

The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is a cooperative effort between Cornell and Penn State Universities; the participating Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations of Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara and Cattaraugus counties in New York and Erie County in Pennsylvania; and participating industry partners National Grape Cooperative (Welch’s), Constellation Brands and Walkers Fruit Basket.

The LERGP extension team provides research-based educational programming for commercial grape growers throughout the year at venues across the Lake Erie grape belt. For more information on LERGP, call 792-2800.