News Stories

Dr. Patty Skinkis. Photo credit: Lynn Ketchum

Planting For the Future

As growers experiment with new ideas, they rely on Oregon State University’s Extension Service for assistance.

Dr. Levin sharing his research findings with a group of grape growers.

Unlocking the Secrets of the Vines

OSU’s Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center focuses on growers issues

Alec Levin

Dr. Alexander Levin named director of Southern Oregon Research & Extension Center

Following a comprehensive internal search with extensive stakeholder engagement, Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences has named Dr. Alexander (Alec) Levin as the director of the...

Pears

Focus on Fruit: 12/08/22

What's being done to help pear growers keep their crop safe after harvest?  Oregon State University's Achala KC updates us on the latest research taking place in southern Oregon.

grapes

Vineyard harvest a bit light, but quality is good

Vineyard harvests may be a little light in terms of quantity in Southern Oregon this fall, but quality is good. Growers got through a season of water concerns aided by wet spring weather, and they are liking the warmer temperatures so far this...

Adriana Pérez, checking corn earworm moths in a Heliothis Trap

Undergraduate Students’ Engagement in Hemp Research and Extension Program

The OSU-SOREC Hemp Research and Extension Program welcomes three OSU undergraduate researchers (Melissa Hudek, Adriana Pérez, and Nora Graham) for the 2022 summer season.  The students are working on a variety of hemp- integrated pest...

crop being irrigated

Improving drought resilience in the Rogue Valley

"We do a fair amount of work across different crops on water-use efficiency," said Gordon Jones, an Assistant Professor at the Southern Oregon Research Extension Center. "Not in every case but in many cases in the Rogue Valley there are...

Pacific Northwest Growers Can Protect Plants from Heat Waves and Still Have a Good Harvest

“On some grand level, the smoke, the heat, and the drought are connected, and we could probably have a climate change discussion at the macro scale,” says Gordon Jones an assistant professor of general agriculture. 

Alec Levin researches wine grapes and irrigation in southern Oregon. Photo by Stephen Ward.

Southern Oregon wine grapes may need less water, OSU Extension study shows

Oregon wine grape growers in southern Oregon may be able to cut their water usage by almost half, according to an Oregon State University study.

Entomologist Max Ragozzino talks about wasps being introduced in an attempt to control brown marmorated stink bugs, which have invaded Southern Oregon. (Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune)

Wasps to the rescue

Japanese wasps released in Medford to battle orchard pests

Stories Of Southern Oregon: Extending Help To Agriculture

You can live an urban lifestyle in the region, but not in many places.  We're surrounded by open country, much of it farmed. 

And farmers can use a little help every now and then with practices and procedures, which are available from...

Sheep and other wine-growing tips

Since the late 1960s, conducting research into best practices and providing advice to Southern Oregon wine grape producers, known as winegrowers, has been the business of the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, a facility of the...

Comice to Cabernet

The Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center (SOREC) has planted a new trial vineyard, the fourth such site established by the agricultural experiment station since the 1950s and the third in its present West Medford location. SOREC has...

Southern Oregon wines come of age

Let’s drink a toast to the wine grape industry of southern Oregon. Just over 30 years old, it’s growing fast: between 2010 and 2012, the number of wineries in southern Oregon grew by 24 percent, and the three southern wine-grape-growing regions...

Shifting landscapes of pest management

Imagine a giant jigsaw puzzle whose pieces are always changing shape. That’s an apt analogy for the challenges faced by OSU’s integrated pest management (IPM) team in the Rogue Valley.

Ripe pears in winter

Ripe pears are available to consumers well into winter, but they are a challenge to keep fresh after harvest. David Sugar has spent most of his career studying fruit pathology and physiology at SOREC, helping Oregon pear growers control...