$100,000 Oro Agri gift completes fundraising for new viticulture greenhouse

Note: Links for a related campus greenhouse virtual groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 29 are available here: PHOTOS / VIDEO

 

(Dec. 2020) -- Fresno State graduate students Leah Groves and Moriah Mehlman are the perfect example why Oro Agri, an international leader in biorational crop products, continues to invest in the future of California agriculture through a partnership with Fresno State. 

Mehlman, a research chemist at the company’s local U.S. headquarters, is working on a joint master’s project in the 120-acre campus vineyard with Groves, the campus vineyard manager. 

The pair are studying the effects of a calcium-based supplement, NANOCAL, in table grapes to examine how this calcium product is used by the plant to improve grape quality and storability after harvest. 

That collaboration is another chapter in a series of partnerships that now includes a $100,000 gift to complete a campus viticulture greenhouse fundraising project. The new facility is tentatively slated to break ground this winter with an estimated $250,000 total cost.

“When we started Oro Agri twenty years ago, we knew California and the Central Valley’s unlimited agriculture opportunities would be our stepping stone to a successful future,” said Errol Pullen, Oro Agri founder and CEO. “This donation to Fresno State is our way of showing appreciation to all the growers and others involved in California agriculture for allowing us to follow our dreams and build our business here. But perhaps more importantly, the greenhouse will provide new generations a chance to follow their own dreams and make California and the Central Valley a land of opportunity for them and their families.”   

When the new, 30-foot by 30-foot greenhouse is completed by the fall of 2021, faculty, students and staff can grow and graft an array of vines for the University Agricultural Laboratory and work on industry-supported research projects. 

Half of the facility will be dedicated to projects that involve plant pathogens such as nematodes and powdery mildew, a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Treatments could be tested in this area and kept separate from healthy plants in the other part of the greenhouse and the campus farm.  

“The new greenhouse is a vital link between our research laboratories and the campus farm,” said Dr. Stephan Sommer, campus Viticulture and Enology Research Center director. “Faculty, staff and students can now propagate plants and prepare their field trials in a controlled environment to help us continue to expand our internationally-recognized research.” 

The greenhouse will be located at the center of the campus viticulture and enology complex and will fill an empty section that previously housed equipment for a raisin dipping line and portable cold storage units, but was removed in late 2017. 

The facility also replaces an outdated and non-functional hoop-house structure that was located on the northwest side of the complex but was torn down in 2018. 

The initial fundraising drive began more than seven years ago by the Fresno State Viticulture Club, and has been boosted each year by its Fall Harvest BBQ. The event is the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year and brings together faculty, staff, students, alumni and industry supporters. 

Two of the earliest gifts from that event came from John Duarte, who owns Duarte Nursery near Modesto, and John Arellano, a 1996 alumnus, whose company serves as a wine grape consultant and broker for Duarte Nursery.  

Other funding sources for the greenhouse include the Viticulture and Enology Research Center, a crowdfunding campaign, the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and other alumni and friends. 

Fresno State Viticulture Club advisor, faculty member and researcher Dr. Sonet Van Zyl has been a vital link for project supporters and students. 

The associate professor joined the campus faculty in September 2011, and specializes in the areas of table and raisin grape production, organic product development and grape pest and disease management strategies.

She has been an active research partner since 2016 with Oro Agri technical managers, all who also coincidentally hail from South Africa. That partnership has included campus projects that studied issues related to yield and quality enhancement of tomato, corn and soybean crops, as well as a multi-season grape color enhancement project.  

The company has also conducted campus research projects related to weed control with viticulture and enology department chairperson Dr. Anil Shrestha and new bio-pesticide formulation screenings with plant science pathology faculty Dr. Margaret Ellis. 

“This has been a special process to watch unfold, especially since it was started by students and alumni trying to add a way to gain even more hands-on experience,” said Van Zyl. “We sincerely appreciate industry partners like Oro Agri that are creating new research opportunities. The new greenhouse will offer an important area to address key issues that are affecting growers and companies alike.”