Chautauqua County is one of the more important agricultural counties in New York State, with a diverse farm production sector, a strong farm input sector and a significant food processing and value-added output economy. While the County has significant sales of cattle, vegetables, fruits, timber, and maple products, it is dominated by grape production.

With more than 30,000 vineyard acres, the Lake Erie Grape Belt is the largest grape-growing region east of the Rockies.  It is roughly five to ten miles wide extending from the lake shore to the Lake Erie escarpment, which rises about 1000 feet above the 600 ft elevation shore of Lake Erie.  Most of the grapes raised here are of Concord variety, which are native to America. Other varieties include Niagara, Catawba, Delaware, Elvira, Seyval Blanc, and Chardonnay.

Join us for a special presentation with Barker Museum Curator Max Walters to learn how the Museum is preserving the legacy of grape production and processing with its online archive.

Attendees also will view a never-before-seen promotional movie for Bedford Food Products Co. of Dunkirk, later to become part of Red Wing.