California Farm Advisor Selected as the ASEV 2024 Extension Distinction Award Recipient

Davis, Calif., March 27, 2024…Mark Battany, a farm advisor with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, has been confirmed as the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) 2024 Extension Distinction Award recipient.  He will be presenting, “Flipping dimensions: A vertical weather view helps illuminate vineyard challenges,” at the 75th ASEV National Conference in Portland, Oregon, on June 19, 2024.

In 2001, Battany was hired as the viticulture farm advisor for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and changed title to water management and biometeorology advisor for the same region in 2018. He continues to be an active extension educator for growers throughout California and has enjoyed extensive international engagement over his career.

Battany has addressed a wide range of topics throughout his extension career, such as the vine mealybug, soil salinity, vine nutrition, irrigation management and frost protection. He has leveraged his skills with weather stations and sensors to help illuminate topics where little information existed previously, including his extensive assessments of temperature inversion conditions in relation to frost protection and spray drift risk.

“I strive to be as knowledgeable as possible on the many issues facing growers. I feel very lucky to have had a career where I can apply my knowledge and creativity to help growers find solutions to problems we didn’t know existed,” says Battany.

Battany received his Bachelor of Science in agronomy at Colorado State University, and also completed a minor in Spanish. He received his Master’s degree in hydrologic sciences from the University of California, Davis, that was supported by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Cordoba, Spain, at the Institute of Sustainable Agriculture. He received the UCCE Outstanding Research Distinguished Service Award for 2013/2014, in recognition of his work evaluating wind machine performance.

The ASEV Extension Distinction Award is given to a current ASEV member and extension educator based on their contributions to enology or viticulture through their extension program, or the translation of novel research findings into commercially applicable tools for enologists or viticulturists.

“Extension educators need to continually be learning as well, and few experiences are as educational and enriching as seeing the challenges of farming elsewhere in the world,” says Battany.

Founded in 1950 by a group of researchers and winemakers, the Society is dedicated to the interests of enologists, viticulturists and others in the fields of wine and grape research and production throughout the world. The ASEV National Conference is a forum for sharing and disseminating the latest scientific information relevant to winemaking and grapegrowing. For more information about the 75th ASEV National Conference and the Red Blotch Symposium on June 17-20, 2024, in Portland, Oregon, visit asev.org. Registration and housing will open in April.