Meet The Viticulture Expert: Tremain Hatch, Virginia Tech
December 30, 2014 
Tremain Hatch
American/Western Fruit Grower works with expert contributors throughout the country to bring you information specific to your crops and growing regions. Our newest expert in the field is Tremain Hatch. Tremain, a Viticulture Extension research associate with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, will be covering issues related to Eastern grape production. We caught up with him to share a little of his background, as well as a preview of what you can expect to learn from him in the coming year.
Q: How and why did you get involved in viticulture?
Hatch: In 2002, my family, which operates a cattle operation, planted a small 1-acre vineyard just to try something a little bit different. I was a senior in high school at that point, so it piqued my interest and then I just followed in that track from that point forward.
Q: What are you interested in studying or researching more in depth?
Hatch: My current interest really focuses on the farm management side of viticulture – business operations. I did my master’s degree looking through the horticulture lens, and now I’m doing an MBA, so I’m interested in seeing how to apply that to viticulture.
Q: What kinds of things specifically will you be focusing on in terms of farm management, and how will it benefit growers?
Hatch: Right now I’m working on a project to update an independent grape-growing budget for the Mid-Atlantic, and hopefully that will provide a resource that folks interested in developing a vineyard can use to make business decisions and a business plan.
Q: Is there anything you’re hoping to write more about in the magazine?
Hatch: I’d like to incorporate both what I’m seeing in the field and in viticulture research and also what I’m learning through some business courses that I’m taking.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges facing grape growers right now and in the coming year?
Hatch: From the perspective here in Virginia, in the 2013 to 2014 winter, we had quite a bit of winter injury, so I think going into 2015 we’re still going to be dealing with how to compensate for that winter injury and bring up yields in varieties that were affected.
Q: Where do you think the greatest opportunities lie for grape growers?
Hatch: I suppose either in developing a vineyard with a winery in tandem, or operating to a scale sufficient so that they can take advantage of the production economies of scale. In Virginia, we’ve got a lot of small operations where the vineyards aren’t large enough to take advantage of economies of scale but, through the value-added process, they can get into agritourism and sustain the operation.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of research and working with growers?
Hatch: I like seeing when a grower can take information, apply it back into their operation and really keep land in agriculture and make a sustainable and profitable business from it.
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