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Seven agri-food post-secondary programs to consider in Ontario


Winery and viticulture technician, Niagara College

Source: Niagara College

This five-semester diploma program provides students with the tools to pursue a career such as a: winemaker, vineyard manager, laboratory or viticulture technician, sales manager, or winery technician.

“In terms of viticulture training resources, we have approximately 30 acres planted to a wide range of common wine grape Vitis vinifera cultivars such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Riesling and Pinot Noir,” said Gavin Robertson, a winemaker and instructor at the Niagara College Teaching Winery and Canadian Food and Wine Institute.

“At the winery, students and faculty also grow some less common varieties to analyze performance in the province’s climate and soils,” he said.

Students will enroll in courses including: vine biology; wine chemistry; vineyard soils, fertilizer and irrigation; farm equipment operations; integrated pest management (IPM) and winery management.

Students will participate in “ampelographic sampling and identification, pruning and tying operations, trellis maintenance projects, machine operation, IPM scouting and specimen identification, dormant tissue grafting and growing season canopy management activities,” Robertson said.

In this program, students participate in every aspect of grape and wine processing, from hand-picking fruit at harvest to fermentation and bottling, he said.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old by the time classes begin. 

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