About
There are approximately 30,000 acres of vineyard in the Lake Erie region of New York and Pennsylvania grown on 840 farms, making this the largest grape growing region outside of California.
Of this acreage, 98.5% consists of Labrusca (American Grape) varieties such as 'Concord' and 'Niagara' which are used for juice, jam and other fresh or fermented products. The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program consists of Extension Educators and research faculty/staff from Cornell University and Penn State University devoted to projects aimed at increasing yields, product quality, diversity and improvement of cultivars, efficiency of production, profitability and adoption of environmentally sound cultural and pest management strategies.
The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is supported, in part, by five county Cornell Cooperative Extensions including:
Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara Counties in New York and Erie County in Pennsylvania.
The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program team continues to make a positive impact on the grape growers and industry in Western NY and Northwest PA. Take a look at our Impact Statements to see the ways in which we are making a difference.
We put out electronic Crop Updates weekly during the growing season and every other week the rest of the year. These bring the current and relevant topics to you so you can apply it to your vineyard operation. Andrew keeps us up to date on industry business, grants and financial opportunities, Jenn updates us on vineyard health and viticulture topics, Megan makes sure we are aware of what is changing with pesticide rules, vineyard scouting and spray applications and Kim is our weather NEWA specialist. You will also find all meeting dates and registration information within these updates.
If you are enrolled in our program you will have access to all information.
If you are not enrolled in our program, you will have access to historic versions, but you must enroll to view current issues.