Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/718029
September 2016 WINES&VINES 27 GRAPEGROWING and socially responsible best practices in the American grape and wine industry. Flash forward to 2016, and NGWI has kept true to its roots, being an industry-driven part- nership with members ranging in size from small vineyard and winery operations to very large producers and wineries. Uniquely, NGWI membership also includes academic, research and government representatives from all grape sectors. NGWI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit re- search foundation funded by voluntary contri- butions from all segments of the grape industry and grape-growing districts across the country. The amount contributed by each depends on the size of the organization as well as its level of commitment to driving the national critical research platform forward. While it was not possible to get a complete list of the funders of NGWI, a list of the board of directors and officers is available at ngwi.org. It clearly dem- onstrates the breadth and diversity of NGWI. The original intent of the NGWI founders was for it to become a conduit of research and extension funds. The Australian Wine and Grape Research Development Corp. (AWGRDC) was looked at as a desirable model to emulate. How- ever, setting up a national assessment of winer- ies and growers to provide a pool of funds for research and extension was not possible at that time and continues to be a topic of conversation today (yet efforts to do so have not material- ized). Therefore, NGWI has focused on being a facilitator of dialogue about research and exten- sion priorities and funding, helping identify and form project teams and coordinating grant- funding applications. It does not lobby govern- ment policymakers, rather it creates educational materials to empower NGWI members to discuss topics and policies important to the success and sustainability of the grape sectors with elected officials. Another major focus is to create and stimulate dialogue among researchers and other stakeholders to drive research that is critical to the long-term success of the grape industries. There are four primary research theme com- mittees: Genetics and Germplasm Improve- ment, Integrated Production Systems, Natural Resources and Environment, and Extension and Outreach. To ensure that all grape and wine industry members benefit from the re- search identified, promoted and supported by NGWI, it is critical that it maintains an engaged board of directors and a committee structure that allows for open and robust conversations about national high-priority research. Because the research promoted by NGWI is done by public entities, the results are free to the entire wine and grape communities through the outlets used by the participating research- ers. Examples of work NGWI has actively pro- moted and supported with public interfaces include: VitisGen, new detection, research and extension tools for managing wood-canker diseases of fruit and nut crops, and sustainable vineyard water management. Since NGWI is not a direct funder of re- search, it convenes industry dialogue to iden- tify and define highly integrated research projects that no single grape sector can ade- quately address on its own. Furthermore, these projects are multi-disciplinary, multi-institu- tional, multi-state, and involve a range of par- ticipants that include land grant and private universities, technology providers, equipment manufacturers, service partners, horticulture commodity partners and international collabo- rators. NGWI works with grant funders (includ- ing the American Vineyard Foundation, USDA National Initiative for Food and Agriculture, USDA Agricultural Research Service [ARS] and trade associations) to minimize funding of duplicate research projects. Research that NGWI hopes to accomplish involves the topics of genomics (including gene identification, clonal selection and traditional breeding), precision agriculture (focused on remote sensing, proximal sensors, automation and mechanization) and resource management of water, land and the environment. The table "Recent Projects Funded and Supported by NGWI" is a direct measure of the diversity and significance of the research being carried out. In addition to its support of grape research projects from competitive federal grants, NGWI has also been coordinating with USDA-ARS on its $15-million-per-year research program port- folio devoted to grapes. I have often written in Wines & Vines about the relatively limited amount of funding avail- able for grape and wine research compared to other crops such as almonds and citrus, and when compared to the funds generated by Australia's AWGRDC. I have also written about the erosion of support for university coopera- tive extension. So we are left with being imagi- native about how to generate and leverage research and extension dollars for the wine and grape communities. NGWI plays a unique and critical role in making this happen for the grape industry, and yet it is not a well-known organization. Camron King and the NGWI board of directors have vowed to raise NGWI's visibility. I recommend learning more about NGWI and how you can support its critical work. For more information, contact Camron King at cking@ngwi.org. Cliff Ohmart, Ph.D., is senior scientist for SureHarvest and author of View from the Vineyard: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Wine Grape Growing. Previously he served as research/IPM director at the Lodi-Woodbridge Wine- grape Commission. He has been writing about sustain- able winegrowing issues for Wines & Vines since 1998. RECENT PROJECTS FUNDED AND SUPPORTED BY NGWI VitisGen I: Accelerating Grape Cultivar Improvement via Phenotyping Center and Next- Generation Markers (Bruce Reisch, Cornell University; Cadle-Davidson, USDA-ARS) Developing Vineyard Water Management Strategies for Limited and Impaired Water Supplies (James Ayars and Andrew McElrone, USDA-ARS) Improved Grape and Wine Quality in a Challenging Environment: An Eastern U.S. Model for Sustainability and Economic Viability (Tony Wolf, Virginia Tech) New Detection, Research and Extension Tools for Managing Wood-Canker Diseases of Fruit and Nut Crops (Kendra Baumgartner, USDA-ARS; Themis Michailides, University of California, Davis) Northern Grapes: Integrating Viticulture, Winemaking and Marketing of Cold-Hardy Cultivars (Tim Martinson, Cornell University and USDA-ARS) Vineyard Efficiency Through High-Resolution, Spatiotemporal Crop Load Measurement and Management (Terry Bates, Cornell University; Stephen Nuske, Carnegie-Melon University) Scalable Solutions to Reduce Water Use and Salinity in Wineries (Gour Choudhury, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) NGWI is a 501(c)(3) non- profit research foundation funded by voluntary contri- butions from all segments of the grape industry and grapegrowing districts across the country.