Extension Projects

Participants in a Virginia Cooperative Extension pruning workshop held in March 2024 in Loudoun County, VA.

Teaming up with the Virginia Vineyards Association and Telamon, Corp. to develop multiformat viticultural resources and expanded training opportunities

As one of the recipients of the first round of funding from the Extension Foundation’s AgriProspects Workforce Development Minigrant program (press release here), we will be working in a collaborative team to develop educational videos of various lengths that will explore key viticultural topics and themes. Full-, mid-, and short-length videos will be filmed, edited, and released on multiple platforms to serve as references and educational resources for industry stakeholders. A second core component of the project includes expanding access to Worker Protection Safety (WPS) training and other farm safety training. This project will be a collaborative effort between:

Virginia Cooperative Extension: Dr. Drew Harner, Dr. Mizuho Nita, and Beth Sastre
Virginia Vineyards Association: AJ Greely, President, and Aury Holtslag, Vice President
Telamon, Corporation: Sieger Bokschoten, Pesticide and Workplace Safety Trainer)

We are beginning our filming in late winter 2025, focusing first on pruning. A website devoted to chronicling our efforts will be live soon.