Monday October 26th 4-5:15pm

The fifth Inland Rogue Water Webinar of 2026 will explore the practical realities of on-farm irrigation and adapting to drought. Join Dave Picanso, Farm Manager at Rusted Gate Farm in Central Point, and Gregory Brun, General Manager of Quail Run Vineyards in Talent, for a discussion of how they manage irrigation, what has worked for their operations, tradeoffs between different approaches, and how drought and water availability shape both day-to-day decisions and longer-term planning. Paul DeMaggio, Water Resources Engineer with Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District, will bring a regional perspective based on his work with irrigators across the Inland Rogue. He’ll share common challenges he encounters while providing technical assistance and offer an overview of irrigation systems commonly used in the region. 

Please register for access to the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/93RhwTRBRL60iVLv26C3s

Speaker Bios:

Dave Picanso is the Farm Manager at Rusted Gate Farm. He brings 50 years of ranching and farming experience, with hands-on knowledge of a wide range of irrigation systems, including flood irrigation, handlines, wheel lines, traveling guns, pods, and center pivots. He has also worked with multiple government agencies on grant-funded projects with a goal of improving water conservation.

Gregory Brun is General Manager of Quail Run Vineyards, a multi-site wine-grape operation in Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley. A French-trained agricultural engineer and viticulturist, he brings more than two decades of experience in vineyard production, grapevine physiology, soils and terroir, precision agriculture, and wine-growing operations. His career has included leading viticulture and multidisciplinary winegrowing programs in California and working with growers, wineries, and researchers in the U.S. and Europe. At Quail Run, he applies this experience to the particular conditions of Southern Oregon viticulture, including the complexities of irrigation in the Rogue Valley, where water availability, infrastructure, soil variability, climate, vine physiology, and production objectives must be considered together.

Paul DeMaggio is the Water Resources Engineer at Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District, with more than 14 years of experience providing technical assistance to irrigators and irrigation districts in the Rogue Valley. His work includes planning and engineering design for irrigation water management projects, including on-farm irrigation upgrades and irrigation conveyance improvements. He is a registered Professional Agricultural Engineer in Oregon, a Certified Agricultural Irrigation Specialist, and a Certified Irrigation Designer. He holds a B.S. in BioResource and Agricultural Engineering from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo.