Michigan Grape Society Newsletter, Volume 7 Issue 31, July 2006

The Van Buren Co. administrator has proposed a 75% cut to the MSU Extension’s budget beginning October 1, 2006. That cut impacts all of there programs: Horticulture (commercial and consumer), Agriculture, Community Development (which includes local government assistance, planning education, housing grant management, farmland preservation etc.), Economic Development, Natural Resources and Resource Recovery, 4-H Youth Development and Mentoring (including all assistance to the Van Buren County Youth Fair Board), , Family and Consumer Sciences, including the Food and Nutrition Program,. The board will be making a decision on this cut at their July 11th Board of Commissioners meeting.

Consider writing letters to the Van Buren County Commissioners at 219 E. Paw Paw St., Paw Paw, MI 49079 or contact your County Commissioner before Tuesday, July 11th and explain what MSU Extension programs mean to you or attend one of the upcoming meetings and make a statement during public comment, Wednesday July 5, 4:00 pm or Tuesday July 11 at 4:30 pm. Meetings are held in the in the county administration building located at 219 E. Paw Paw Street, Paw Paw, MI. Meetings are held in the commissioner board room located on the 2nd floor. If you would like help in planning what to say we will gladly assist you. Contact County Extension Director Julie Pioch (piochj@msu.edu) or call 657-7745.

DISCLAIMER: Activities of this event are for informational purposes only. No endorsement of products, equipment, or presentation of information is expressed or implied by Michigan State University Extension.

The income loss requirement in 2004 means that many Michigan producers will not meet the lost income provisions because their farm income in 2004 was greater than 2003. This means that they cannot receive cash payments but by attending the TAA Educational program they will receive a certificate on completion of that program. If you are interested in attending these sessions contact the county MSU Extension office and register for the Extension training and technical assistance component of TAA. This program is still being developed from the TAA program last year in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The technical assistance portion of TAA will probably be held in July after the end of the signup period. Day and evening workshops will be held in Berrien and Van Buren Counties. These workshops will be about 2 hours long and growers will be required to attend one of these workshops to receive any benefits from TAA. I would urge even those growers who did not qualify for cash payments to attend the technical workshops, which will be designed around accessing the health of your farm business and increasing your profitability.

This is a picture of the overhead irrigation in the Southwest Michigan Research & Extension Center on the morning of April 26, 2006. This technology protected the crop in this vineyard from the widespread devastating freeze that left many Michigan growers without a crop for 2006. The details of this technology will be presented at this year’s Viticulture Field Day.	This is the 2006 prototype model of the mechanical shoot positioner being used at the Hinkleman farm. The purpose of this machine is to keep nodes along the cordon fruitful, promote ripening of the fruit, and structure vines so they are better targets for mechanical pruning
Senator Ron Jelinek was honored at the 2005 MSU Viticulture Field Day for his efforts to support Michigan agriculture. He used the “Shovel of Honor” to plant a tree, which will bear a plaque in his honor.	Ed Kerlikowske, Sr., President of the Michigan Grape Society, and Tim Seppala, a director of the Michigan Grape Society were part of the cooking crew for the luncheon at the 16^th Annual MSU Viticulture Field Day held last year. There’s always plenty of good food and Michigan wine at this event!