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18 WINES&VINES December 2015 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS QST offers its clients……. Professionally fabricated stainless tanks 35 years of tank fabrication experience Performance & reliability guarantees Custom designs & modern features Quick & competitive tank project pricing On site tank repairs & modifications Special application tanks of all sizes "In stock tanks" from 500 to 10,000 gallons 510 Caletti Ave. Windsor, Ca. 95492 Phone 707-837-2721 or Toll-Free 877-598-0672 www.qualitystainless.com Company Website winetanks@aol.com email contact/sales info Custom Fabricated Tanks for the perfect size & fit… or Ready to Ship "Stock Tanks" Either way QST is ready to assist our clients! Call QST today for information or pricing! QUALITY STAINLESS TANKS P ortland, N.Y.—The USDA's Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) an- nounced a $6 million grant over four years for research to develop spatial vineyard measurement and management to optimize production efficiency and improve yields. Dr. Terry Bates, senior research associate in Cornell University's Department of Horticulture and director of the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Laboratory, will be the project director. For five years, Bates has been working on a pilot project to begin developing precision viticultural techniques including the use of mobile vineyard sensors to collect canopy and crop information for growers. The data would allow growers to understand their vineyards' conditions, predict potential crop size and take action to improve their overall yields. The grape industry—along with the National Grape and Wine Initiative (NGWI)—had supported the pilot project to get this research started. "This was the fourth go-round to get fund- ing from the SCRI," Bates told Wines & Vines. The pilot project succeeded in digital man- agement maps of the soil, canopy and grape crop in a vineyard. Researchers developed a prototype crop estimation tool that can be at- tached to vineyard equipment such as a shoot thinner and takes thousands of images of grape flowers or berries. A computer program then interprets the data into a spatial berry count. Dr. Stephen Nuske, systems scientist at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, will be working with Bates to manage the proj- ect. According to Bates, Nuske is a specialist in robotic technology, and he will be developing the sen- sor systems to collect spatial soil, c a n o p y a n d c r o p d a t a i n vineyards. Other researchers who will be participating in the project include Dr. James Taylor, senior lecturer in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at New- castle University in England. Ju- lian Alston, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the Uni- versity of California, Davis, will determine the economic impact of the project. Dr. Kaan Kurtural, a specialist in vineyard mechanization, will assist with viticultural vali- d a t i o n o f t h e a c c u r a c y o f t h e s p a t i a l mapping. "It is impossible to overstate the value this technology will provide in improving grape farmers' ability to apply the right management practices at the right time and right place in their vineyards," stated Jean-Mari Peltier, presi- dent of NGWI. "Our goal is to increase vineyard production by 20% and decrease vineyard vari- ability by 30%." —Linda Jones McKee Grant Will Fund Spatial Vineyard Measurement Spatial data layers can help vineyard managers develop pruning plans to reduce variation and improve production and fruit quality. TERRY BATES