Juice Grape
Vitis labrusca (Concord-type, V. × labruscana)
Concord-type American juice grapes (Concord, Niagara): the anchor crop of the Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt (NY/PA). Concord is the most important variety for sweet juice, jelly and preserves; vineyards are machine-harvested and most fruit is sold to juice-processing cooperatives.
Crop Snowflake Score
/acre
/acre
/acre
years
Overview
Growing Season
- Plant
- early spring –
- Harvest
- early October – mid-October
- Frost-free days
- 150+
- GDD (base 50°F)
- 2,000
Yield
- Typical yield
- 6 tons/acre
- Years to full prod.
- 4
- Labor
- 18.5 hrs/acre
Market Fit
Scoring data for this axis is being loaded.
Market Channels
Climate Fit
Scoring data for this axis is being loaded.
Soil Compatibility
Soil Texture
Drainage
Infrastructure Fit
Scoring data for this axis is being loaded.
Equipment Requirements
harvesting
Custom machine harvest from year 4 at an assumed $150 per ton plus $8 per ton trucking.
planting
Trellis construction (materials, labor, machinery) estimated at $4,373 per acre.
Budget assumes tile in every third row (27 ft apart), about $5,146 per acre; LERGP notes tile is not needed on naturally well-drained soils.
Initial planting by contracted GPS planter.
spraying
Glyphosate spot sprays must be shielded to avoid contact with green tissue.
About six fungicide/insecticide sprays per season in a mature vineyard.
general
Budget machinery complement lists 60, 70 and 80 HP 4WD tractors.
Listed in the budget machinery complement for canopy management.
cultivation
Pruning brush is chopped in the row middles; middles are mowed about twice a year.
Listed in the budget machinery complement for under-vine soil work.
Storage Requirements
Cold storage (fresh-market fruit)
Temperature
31–32°F
Humidity
85–90%
Max Storage
49 days
Finance Fit
Scoring data for this axis is being loaded.
Economics Breakdown
| Avg Price/Unit | $280//ton |
| Gross Revenue/Acre | $2,100 |
| Annual Operating Cost | $2,678/acre |
| Establishment Cost | $18,099/acre |
| Total Input Cost | —/acre |
| Net Return/Acre | -$2,619 |
| Revenue/Labor Hour | — |
| Crop Insurance | Available |
Source: Cornell Dyson EB 2020-11, Cost of Establishment and Production of Concord Grapes in the Lake Erie Region of New York - 2020 (Davis, Gomez & Martin) (2020)
Risk Fit
Scoring data for this axis is being loaded.
Known Risks
disease
Concord is rated highly susceptible (3 of 3) to black rot in the Iowa State / NY Cooperative Extension cultivar table.
Concord is rated highly susceptible (3 of 3) to Phomopsis cane and leaf spot.
Concord is rated highly susceptible (3 of 3) to Eutypa dieback, a trunk disease.
Concord is rated moderately susceptible (2 of 3) to powdery mildew.
Concord is rated moderately susceptible (2 of 3) to crown gall.
Concord is rated only slightly susceptible (1 of 3) to downy mildew.
environmental
Concord is noted as very 2,4-D sensitive; drift from nearby herbicide use can injure vines.
pest
The one key arthropod pest of grapes in New York: widespread and causes serious damage most years; western NY populations show likely resistance to the pyrethroid fenpropathrin (Danitol).
Erythroneura comes feeds mainly on native cultivars like Concord; in Concord it has not been a late-season problem if below threshold in July.
Invasive planthopper; grapes are the most negatively impacted crop in the Pennsylvania quarantine zone. An established population was found in Buffalo, NY in 2022, near the Lake Erie grape belt.
weather
The April 23-24, 2024 frost hit a majority of the Lake Erie Concord industry; affected growers estimated 1-3 tons per acre against a belt-wide average of about 9.3 tons the year before.
market
Most Lake Erie growers sell to one or two cooperative juice processors; oversupply or a decline in grape juice demand lowers grower prices. In 2025 Penn State reported dropped contracts, delayed payments and fruit left unharvested.
Nutritional Yield
Nutrition data pending.
Research agents will profile Juice Grape against USDA FoodData Central on the next maintenance pass. Per-acre nutritional yield will appear here once the per-100g panel is recorded.
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem service data pending.
The next research-agent rotation will document this crop's contributions to pollinator support, soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration.
Nearby Buyers
Data Sources
Every data point on this page is traceable to its source. Below you'll find the complete provenance trail — which sources were used, when data was last verified, and a full change history.
Primary sources: Cornell Dyson/LERGP Concord budget (EB 2020-11), Lake Erie Regional Grape Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Oregon State and Iowa State Extension, WSU EB1823, FAO EcoCrop, USDA AH-66. Every value cited in source_citations.
Economics data year: 2020 · Region: lake_erie View economics source →
1 tracked change across 1 data category