UA-patented Product Tested in California
by August 19, 2002 12:00 am 84 views
Local vineyard experts Justin Morris and Tommy Oldridge are seeing their latest mechanization invention being tested with two California companies.
Morris is director of the Institute of Food Science and Engineering at the University of Arkansas’ Agricultural Experiment Station. Oldridge is a longtime farmer who recently sold his Lowell vineyard operation.
Both Morris and Oldridge are assisting Oxbo International Corp.’s manufacturing plants in Wisconsin and New York with the equipment testing at French Camp Vineyard of San Luis Obispo County, Calif., and Central Coast Wine Services of Santa Maria, Calif.
The mechanized vineyard system, which promises to reduce vineyard costs, has been patented by the UA.
Morris has 35 years experience working on vineyard mechanization. For the last 25 years, Morris has worked closely with Oldridge on his vineyard. The two have collaborated on the development of more than 40 machines that mechanize at least 12 different trellising systems.
Their machines mechanize shoot thinning, canopy management, fruit thinning, leaf removal, summer pruning, harvesting and dormant pruning.
French Camp is using the Morris-Oldridge system on about 300 of the vineyard’s 1,700 acres as part of a commercial test-run with the U of A and Oxbo International.
The final test will come after the grapes are made into wine by Central Coast Wine Services. The wines will be taste-tested in California and sent to the UA for evaluation of quality.