is an assistant teaching professor of Viticulture in the Department of Plant Science at Penn State. In his role, he serves as one member of athat provides guidance while gathering data for those growing grapes and making wine across the state. He has been involved in viticulture research and extension since 2007 and has presented at state, regional, national, and international academic and industry conferences in addition to developing and coordinating numerous extension workshops.
“I really love working with Cain as we share the same curiosity, love to help others and love for our work and people,” Watrelot said in an email following a conference call with the two of them. “I always want to help people and want to share my knowledge with people. As a researcher and Extension specialist, I am always looking to understand the needs of the industry to better develop strategies and topics for research projects and extension and outreach programs.
After assembling and combing through the data, they set up focus group sessions in each of the four regions that not only involved winemakers, grape growers and winery owners but also faculty and Extension specialists. Those focused on determining topics that can be aided with research or education and those “that are really out of control from academia,” Watrelot said. “And so we were able to identify what are the main challenges and what we do in the future to help the industry.