Written By David Eiserman
Secretary Lohr presenting award to Dr. Doug Pfeiffer
Jeanette Smith receiving the VVA 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr Douglas Pfeiffer, Fruit Entomologist Virginia Tech Members of the VA fruit industry for any length of time can attest to the valuable impact Dr. Douglas Pfeiffer has had on their success. His work enhanced the resilience of our industry through the uncertainty of harrowing threats and perennial challenges. Smart entomological resources are of tremendous value to VA’s fruit industry and much of the modern entomological resources we have access to can in some way be credited to the research and extension work of Dr. Pfeiffer.
In the words of the namesake of this award, Dr. Tony Wolf, now retired, Professor of Viticulture at Virginia Tech writes: “Dr. Douglas Pfeiffer has served the Virginia wine and grape industries since the mid-eighties in his capacity as a fruit entomologist. Doug’s research and extension efforts focused on integrated pest management of existing and introduced arthropod pests of grape, small fruit, and tree fruit.
I had many occasions to collaboratively work with Doug, both in the field and through our extension programs. Doug was responsible for annual updates to the essential Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Pest Management Guides, which provide invaluable information on Integrated Pest Management. His extension presentations drew upon his own research, as well as relevant research by other entomologists.
Doug was always interested in minimizing negative, collateral effects of insect management. He was a pioneer of non-insecticidal mating disruption for grape berry moth in Virginia and was involved with the foundational research on the newly introduced spotted lanternfly. In addition to his extension program, Doug taught undergraduate courses and graduate students. He was a passionate teacher and was recognized for this service with the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching by the Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America in 2021.
On a personal note, I’m grateful to Doug for his early mentorship in my program as a viticulturist with Virginia Tech. Doug was hired a few years before I came on board with Virginia Tech, and was very helpful with my orientation to the Virginia wine industry and to the academic role that we both pursued. We collaborated on several research projects, and Doug was always eager to help out on the VVA technical programs which I helped orchestrate.”
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Jeanette Smith VineSmith LLC and Consultant
Jeanette is the definition of an industry legend. She began her career in Virginia vineyards in 1981 while studying for her bachelors degree at Virginia Tech. Since then, she has been an asset to the industry in many capacities and has overseen vineyard planting and management in several states along the east coast.
Jeanette is responsible for’ developing the exhaustive IPM toolkit, known as VineSmith, which has become an essential part of many vineyard managers’ decision-making processes and has certainly resulted in a wealth of good management choices in and out of the state.
For many years Jeanette further served the industry by serving in various roles on the VVA Board as well as serving on the Education Committee, handily taking over the reigns as Chair from the award’s namesake, Tony Wolf, when he retired. The VVA technical programming has much to owe Smith. By utilizing her vast knowledge, combined with her industry connections, Jeanette has been critical to the ongoing success of our Technical Meetings, both in the winter and summer by designing programming that brought valuable content to industry members.
Jeanette’s recent retirement as an independent consultant comes after a long term of service to those she worked with. She has truly been critical for the growth of the industry which now owes so much to her efforts.
Jeanette continues to manage the vineyards on her property in Shenandoah County where, in addition to producing high-quality fruit for several of the area’s wineries, she continues to progress the industry by planting and studying a collection of the cutting-edge Resistant Varieties from VCR.
“Jeanette Smith has been, and will continue to be a source of knowledge and innovation for our state’s vineyards. Without her, the Shenandoah Valley would not be as well established as it is now. It has been an honor to work alongside her on the Board of the VVA, but more importantly, it is an honor to call her both my friend and mentor”-AJ Greely, VVA President, Hark Vineyards