$1.3 million to strengthen New York's Concord grape industry
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They are including an investment of more than $1.3 million in the Vineyard Improvement Program to help growers renovate their vineyards, diversify operations and plant new grape varieties, increase production and enhance profitability.>
In addition, the state will provide funding to support research at Cornell University to develop new Concord grape products and identify market opportunities. These initiatives are a direct result of the Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's first-ever Concord grape summit held in April of this year.
New York is the nation's second largest producer of Concord grapes
The program is being administered by the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis at www.lergp.com.
In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Markets received a nearly $145,000 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant that will be used for a joint research project with Cornell University to find new products and markets for New York's Concord grape industry.
Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) will conduct research to develop new products using Concord grapes
Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) will conduct research to develop new products using Concord grapes, perform marketing and supply chain analysis to find barriers to growth and identify emerging opportunities for growth, and conduct research on consumer trends as they relate to new Concord grape products and ingredients.
The food science research will be funded by the appropriation in the 2018-19 State Budget for Concord grape research.
New York is the nation's second largest producer of Concord grapes. The Lake Erie Grape Belt encompasses more than 800 vineyards and 22 wineries covering 32,000 acres of grape-friendly soil along the lake shoreline from Buffalo to Erie, Pennsylvania.
Those farms produce more than 150,000 tons of Concord grapes, most of which are sold for juice but are also used for jellies, marmalades and wine. Approximately 2,000 jobs depend on the Concord grape industry, which creates $340 million in economic impact each year. ■