ATASCADERO — Since 2003, the Sustainable Ag Expo has been a leader in providing world-class educational content for farmers, researchers, and consultants. Every year the Ag Expo and International Sustainable Winegrowing Summit features the latest viticulture research and technology from the world’s top experts to help professionals be competitive in the ever-changing business landscape.

This year’s virtual format provides access to a greater diversity of topics and speakers accessible from Nov. 9 through Dec. 4, featuring over 25 hours of live and recorded content. Registrants will have convenient access to all content during those four weeks; a silver lining to the pandemic that will allow students and professionals valuable flexibility during an already busy time of year.

“Registration is now open for the 2020 Ag Expo,” says Vineyard Team Executive Director Kris Beal.  “We had to quickly pivot away from an in-person event due to the COVID-19 pandemic but we are finding some major benefits by hosting the event online. The virtual format actually allows us so much flexibility. Rather than having to compress all the presentations into 3 days, we can offer an even greater variety of course content with time to dig a bit deeper. In addition, our speaker pool comes from all over the world including Tasmania, New York and Pennsylvania. We now have speakers who are able to attend the Expo without having to fly across the country and registrants will be able to access valuable content for an entire month at their own convenience.”

Experts from all over the country will join the Expo online for a comprehensive program. Topics include climate adaption, leafroll and redblotch, winegrape supply and demand, invasive insects, bio control for Pierce’s Disease, irrigation technology, rootstock breeding, regenerative agriculture, biochar, floor management technology, vineyard and hemp coexistence, weed management, growing healthy soils and marketing sustainability, just to name a few. 

The event offers over 15 Department of Pesticide Regulation Continuing Education hours and over 20 Certified Crop Advisor CE hours. Full access to all live and recorded content is $345 for the four-week period. For more information or to register, visit www.sustainableagexpo.org or email kyle@vineyardteam.org.

AG EXPO 2020 SNEAK PEEK

Here is a sneak peek into this year’s sessions with more updates to be released over the coming months:

Leafroll and Red Blotch Diseases: What’s new? And what can I do?

Dr. Marc Fuchs, Professor, Plant Pathology and Microbiology Division, Cornell University

Australia’s New Climate Map for the Australian Wine Industry

Dr. Tom Remenyi, Climate Research Fellow, School of Technology, Environments and Design, University of Tasmania, Hobart Tasmania

Spotted Latternfly – Threat to California

Dr. Heather Leach, Extension Associate, Dept. of Entomology, Penn State University

Economic Sustainability of Winegrapes in California

Jeff Bitter, President Allied Grape Growers

Managing Leafroll Virus in Lodi and Central Coast Vineyards

Dr. Kent Daane, Cooperative Extension Specialist, University of California Berkeley

Growing a Revolution – Soil Health, Vineyards, and Wine

Dr. David Montgomery, Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington

Smoke Effects on Wine and Winegrapes

Glenn McGourty, Retired UCCE Farn Advisor, Lake and Mendocino Counties

Vineyard of the Past, Present and the Future: How will we farm?

Dr. Kaan Kurtural, Associate Specialist UC Davis

Biochar: Soil Amendment for Improved Vine Performance and Long-term Carbon Sequestration

Dr. Douglas Beck, Science Officer, Monterey Pacific Inc.

Farming Hemp in Wine Country

Dr. George Sellu, Program Coordinator, Instructor, Agribusiness at Santa Rosa Junior College

Can Viticulture be Environmentally Sustainable without Disease Resistant Grape Varieties?

Dr. Andrew Walker, Professor, Dept of Enology and Viticulture, UC Davis

Biological Control of PD with Endophytic Bacteria

Dr. Steve Lindow, Professor, Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology UC Berkeley

Vineyard Weed Management: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities

Dr. Anil Shrestha, Professor, Dept. of Plant Sciences, CSU Fresno

Recruitments & Retirements in UC Cooperative Extension – Status & Impacts

Dr. Wendy Powers,Associate Vice President, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Larry Bettiga,UCCE Farm Advisor Monterey County

Dr. Clifford Ohmart, Ohmart Consulting Services

Industry Driven Research: Got a problem? Be a part of the solution!

Donnell Brown, President, National Grape Research Alliance

About the Atascadero-based Vineyard Team: Arising from growers’ interest to educate and guide themselves toward sustainable winegrowing practices, the Vineyard Team has become an internationally recognized leader in the sustainability movement since 1994.