Above, dinner at the June 15, 2006, Grape IPM Workshop sponsored by MSU Extension and the National Grape Cooperative with funding from the American Farmland Trust through EPA's Strategic Ag. Initiative, MSU's Project GREEEN, and the National Grape Cooperative.

January 9-10, 2008. Investing in the Southwest Michigan Wine Industry: winery location and design, vinancing a winery, creating a direct market for wines, economics of winery operations, wines of Southwest Michigan. Hosted at MSU Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center, Benton Harbor, Mich. To be placed on a mailing list for future registration information, call or email Diane at dingsd@msu.edu or phone 269-944-1477 ext 203.

January 15-16, 2008 Northwest Michigan Orchard & Vineyard Show at the Grand Traverse Resort near Traverse City.

February 6-7, 2008 Southwest Michigan Horticultural Days at Lake Michigan Community Colleges Mendel Center.

Southwest grape IPM meetings for 2008
All meetings are from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Lawton, MI (Cronenwett Farms) and from 2:00-4:00 PM Benton Harbor (Berrien County Extension office)
Dates: May 21 and June 25
The Southwest Viticulture Days, held on July 30 at SWMREC, will be in lieu of the July meeting.
For more information, please contact: Paul Jenkins, Mark Longstroth, Rufus Isaacs or Annemiek Schilder (schilder@msu.edu).

Northwest grape IPM “First Friday” meetings for 2008
All meetings will be held from 3:00-5:00 PM.
May 9 at the Lenny Ligon’s Farm, Paolo Sabbini will discuss viticulture practices.
June 6 at Shady lane, Rufus Isaacs will discuss insects.
July 11 at Mawby Vineyards, Annemiek Schilder will discuss diseases.
For more information, please contact: Erin Lizotte, Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner or Paul Jenkins.

Certification manual for commercial pesticide applicators
Updated in 2003, Category 1C manual, Fruit Crop Pest Management, is available though the Michigan State Extension bulletin office (517-353-6740). This is a completely rewritten manual and has a new bulletin number - E-2891. The manual prepares commercial pesticide applicators for certification to make applications to fruit plantings. It may be ordered though the bulletin office website at:
http://web2.msue.msu.edu/bulletins/mainsearch.cfm

The cost of this manual is $13.00. It is also available for free at the MSU Pesticide Education web site at:
http://www.pested.msu.edu/ in the certification manuals section. You can download the entire manual, or download each chapter.

For information about certification requirements in Michigan, visit the MSU Pesticide Education web site.