TWGGA 2023 Annual Conference

Horticultural crops are key to human nutrition and well-being. The challenge is how to continue the production of winegrapes and other horticultural crops in abundance sustainably in the current socioeconomic and environmental conditions. We are integrating a systems-based and a need-driven research approach to address several near- and long-term challenges. This approach has guided the evaluation of soil health, DNA-based quality-controlled nursery production, plant-microbe interactions, pre-harvest fruit development and its connection to post-harvest quality, and regulation of post-harvest ripening. We use various tools of physiology, genetics, genomics, breeding, phenomics, bioinformatics, and genome editing to conduct our research. Several of the resulting innovations have been commercialized through university startups to ensure that the research solutions reach our farmers and producers. An overview of the ongoing research and perspectives for the future of viticulture and enology research and innovation will be shared.