Science In Your Shopping Cart

ARS researchers make sure the science, chemistry, and math all add up to great wine grape production across the U.S.  Learn about ARS’s crucial roles in wine grape production as our researchers’ find answers to the biggest problems facing the nation’s wine grape industry.   For this season of Science in Your Shopping Cart, we’re hitting the virtual wine trail to learn the science behind wine grape growing and how everything in our environment, including wildfires, can influence the characteristics that pour into a glass of wine. Connect with us:   * Twitter: @USDA_ARS [https://twitter.com/USDA_ARS] * Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService [https://www.facebook.com/AgriculturalResearchService] * LinkedIn: @usda-ars [https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda-ars]

ARS researchers Nancy Keim and Wally Yokoyama are looking to turn wine waste – mainly pomace or what the researchers call marcs – into healthy food products that end up in our shopping carts. Keim is studying the health benefits of combinations of chardonnay grape pomace and chardonnay grape extract.  As expected, the enriched flour is high in fiber and has a lot of bioactive material, which means it will react favorably with organs, tissues, or cells in the human body.  How this material interacts with the gut microbiome could be key to seeing these nutrients translate into actual health benefits. While Keim is looking at the health benefits of white grape pomace, Yokoyama is studying the health benefits of waste from red wine grapes. Red wine grapes are high in polyphenols, which are compounds found in plants that act as antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties. Polyphenols have been linked to lowering cholesterol and protecting against certain diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. But Yokoyama is studying whether polyphenols from red grapes can reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Connect with us:   * Twitter: @USDA_ARS [https://twitter.com/USDA_ARS] * Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService [https://www.facebook.com/AgriculturalResearchService] * LinkedIn: @usda-ars [https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda-ars]

ARS researcher Kerri Steenwerth, a research soil scientist with the Crops Pathology and Genetics Research Unit in Davis, CA, battles weather extremes and ways to keep wine grape growers ahead of the environmental curve.    Her research involves regenerative viticulture practices, which is similar to regenerative farming, or farming with sustainability and the environment in mind. Regenerative farming focuses on building and sustaining healthy soil, and it’s not a new practice; it’s been adopted by most wine growers for decades.  Connect with us:   * Twitter: @USDA_ARS [https://twitter.com/USDA_ARS] * Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService [https://www.facebook.com/AgriculturalResearchService] * LinkedIn: @usda-ars [https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda-ars]

ARS researcher Lance Cadle-Davidson, a research plant pathologist at ARS’s Grape Genetics Research Unit in the finger lakes region in Geneva, NY, is helping protect wine vineyards that produce European style wines in the U.S.  Cadle-Davidson and his team have created an automated process utilizing high resolution cameras with illumination to see fungal disease easily from LED lighting with artificial intelligence to quantify disease and robotics that capture images quickly in an automated system that speeds up the process of detecting and treating disease to keep wine growers one step ahead of deadly pathogens in upstate New York.    Check out the Blackbird robot in action at the link below.   https://youtu.be/zqjGxJp3rk0 [https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FzqjGxJp3rk0&data=05%7C02%7CLee.Burrows%40usda.gov%7C54100767f8be40a5e89208dd81ce3f1f%7Ced5b36e701ee4ebc867ee03cfa0d4697%7C1%7C0%7C638809445003577944%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=wHKAuk3L16Z9Msi%2Fvn9bj3ogVs8JmlayMxO8suginK4%3D&reserved=0] Connect with us:   * Twitter: @USDA_ARS [https://twitter.com/USDA_ARS] * Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService [https://www.facebook.com/AgriculturalResearchService] * LinkedIn: @usda-ars [https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda-ars]

ARS researcher Bradley King, a research agricultural engineer at ARS’s Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research lab in Kimberly, ID, is utilizing AI technology to help wine growers determine the best times to water their vineyards.  King and his colleagues developed a validated, automated model that uses artificial intelligence to remotely calculate the daily crop water stress index so wine growers know when to water their vines, and how much, to achieve maximum results for great tasting wine. Connect with us:   * Twitter: @USDA_ARS [https://twitter.com/USDA_ARS] * Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService [https://www.facebook.com/AgriculturalResearchService] * LinkedIn: @usda-ars [https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda-ars]