Cain Hickey is UGA’s first full-time wine grape Extension specialist.
Cain Hickey, viticulture researcher in the horticulture department of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was recently recognized for his contributions to Georgia’s burgeoning wine industry by the publishers of Fruit Growers News and Vegetable Growers News in their Fruit and Vegetable 40 Under 40 awards program.
The awards program was launched in 2018 to recognize young growers, Extension professionals, industry leaders and researchers who are contributing to the future of the fruit and vegetable industries. Honorees are nominated by their peers based on their early career accomplishments, according to Fruit Growers News.
Hickey was recognized at the Great Lakes Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one of the top trade shows for U.S. fruit and vegetable growers.
Working mainly at test plots at the Durham Horticulture Farm in Watkinsville and in north and west Georgia’s wine-growing counties, Hickey has researched disease-resistant varieties of wine grapes, new trellising systems for Southern climates and cultivation best practices.