Apologies for cross-posting.

Help us Evaluate the Northern Grapes Project

Dear Northern Grape growers, winemakers and winery owners:

Over the past five years I’ve had the privilege of being Project Director for the Northern Grapes Project. With funding from the USDA and support from 23 grower and winery associations across 12 states in the Midwest and Northeast, we’ve developed research and education aimed at providing more research-based information on vineyard management, winemaking methods, and marketing and business management options to you. Our overarching goal is to foster the growth and sustainability of the emerging Northern Grapes winery businesses in the Midwest and Northeast.

As we bring this project to a close in 2016, we are asking for your help in evaluating the project.

We have posted a followup survey that asks many of the same questions as our initial Northern Grapes Project Baseline and Economic Impact survey in 2012. Resulting from the Baseline Survey were 12 publications, which can be found at http://northerngrapesproject.org/?page_id=544 (scroll down to “Publications resulting from the Year 1 Baseline Survey.”)

We need to find out how the acreage planted to these varieties and wine production has changed from 2012 to 2016, and estimate the economic contribution to your state’s economy as we did at the start of the project. Results of this survey will help us estimate the overall impact of the project and report it to our funding agency. Data from this survey will be published and we hope will serve as useful resources for building support and recognition for the industry – both in your state and regionally across all the states involved in the project.

The survey will take about thirty minutes to complete, and individual results will be confidential. If you have participated in Northern Grapes Project events or projects, please consider how the project has benefitted you and your industry friends and neighbors, and help us complete this important piece of the project evaluation.

Please help us by participating in this survey. The survey will be open through February 29th.

Survey Link:

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Brigid Tuck at the University of Minnesota Extension. She can be reached at 507-389-6979 or tuckb.

I thank you for your participation!

The Northern Grapes Project is funded by the USDA’s Specialty Crops Research Initiative Program of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, Project #2011-51181-30850