Where has computer technology most changed the wine business? Is it in the field, in the cellar or simply in administrative, sales and accounting where it has transformed so many other businesses? So far, it's probably been the latter, but that could be changing.
While acknowledging that traditional information technology (IT) applications are important, one session at the recent Wine Industry Technology Symposium focused on the latest trends in vineyard technology. It was moderated by Cyril Penn, editor of Wine Business Monthly, and included industry and academia experts.
Bryan Osborn, Cropwire
Bryan Osborn is the founder of Cropwire in Lodi, California. His company is developing sensors that are implanted in vines, and these are combined with sensors that monitor the air and the soil. The data these sensors collect are analyzed by proprietary algorithms to forecast the need for irrigation, fertilization and pest management applications. In its third season, Cropwire, formerly called Vineyard Information Technology, provides services to growers farming more than 60,000 acres in six California counties.
"Vineyard technology will change farming," asserted Osborn. "It will help make profitable decisions farmers need to make."
His definition of vineyard technology is really vineyard information technology (VIT): hardware or software that acquires, transmits, organizes and analyzes vineyard conditions. Examples include sensing, telemetry, neural networking software and databases. On the other hand, Osborn doesn't include low-tech products, such as improved spray nozzles, drip irrigation or better mechanical harvesters, in his view of vineyard technology--nor information technology, such as payroll software that can also improve operations but isn't specific to vineyards.
He noted that vineyard information technology is advancing very rapidly. Today, it requires high power, has to be wired and is generally isolated. It takes a lot of time to implement and use with skilled labor is required. It also involves relatively simple sensors and is based on PC technology: The results and decisions are made from the screen of a PC.
Osborn predicted that in the future the technology will operate with low power and be wireless, networked in real time over the Web for ease of use anywhere. It will involve "smart" sensors implanted or connected to plants and will be largely automated to reduce the need for sophisticated operators.
He argued that two "w's" are vital to future products: wireless and Web.
To be truly valuable, he said, vineyard technology must allow growers to make timely and more accurate decisions to improve the efficiency of farming operations. It must reduce costs and help improve the quality of grapes and hence the wine made from them. In addition, it should improve the quality of workers' lives and must have a low entry cost.
He also noted that there are few suppliers offering sophisticated vineyard technology at present, though powerful databases are available that can be used to organize and analyze the data this technology collects.
At present, vineyard technology can already accomplish a great deal: determine and map soil chemical and physical properties, and monitor plant physiology and its growth and water needs, for example. It can determine if vines are receiving adequate nutrition and irrigation as well as weather conditions. Technology can acquire spatial data and imagery, help manage pests and disease, measure grape chemistry, help estimate yield and fruit quality, monitor labor efficiency and help comply with regulations.
"IT will transform the way we grow grapes," Osborn said, but warned, "You must be careful, however. Users can get on a technology treadmill seeking new technology, yet sometimes the old ways of doing things are better. There's a time lag that results from the fact that we grow only one crop per year, and growers need to access the technology and evaluate it before committing."
Robert Wample, Professor, Fresno State
In his part of the session, professor Robert Wample of California State University, Fresno discussed new technology available for vineyards and wineries.
One of the most promising new technologies is flow cytometry, a process that measures cells in a liquid suspension forced to flow one at a time through a measuring device.
Wample said that this technology holds great promise for both qualitative and quantitative measurements of wine juice, must and wine.
Each type of cell has a unique combination of size, shape, DNA content and proteins. Researchers used to count cells with a microscope, a very slow process, but the flow cytometer allows them to count thousands of cells in minutes and obtain better information.
He also noted the improvements in precision viticulture resulting from new technology, such as crop quality assessment using near-infrared technology that can measure Brix, pH and anthogens quickly. Combined with global positioning system (GPS) data and geographic information systems (GIS), it allows growers to create maps of quality in a vineyard a week before harvest.
Wample said this has been used with a modified mechanical harvester that can deliver grapes to different sides depending on the quality.
Paul Anamosa, Vineyard Consultant
The third speaker was well-known vineyard consultant Paul Anamosa.
He provided information about the many technologies available to help growers make decisions about their vines. They include leaf porometers, which measure stomatal conductance, weather stations, pressure bombs, soil probes for both water and salinity, computer databases entered with field data entry systems, ground and aerial Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) systems, and GPS/GIS mapping tools.
Anamosa noted that many instruments help the grower better understand his local weather, including temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, solar radiation and disease models. The most useful are wireless and Web-based.
He added that researchers are taking a new look at climate. They've been analyzing the existing databases in new ways since 90 percent of planting decisions are based on climate.
He said that they're paying special attention to diurnal temperature swings in the period from veraison to harvest, the nighttime temperature during veraison, the number of hours above 100 degrees during the growing season and temperature during cluster formation rather than depending on the older concept of heat summation in degree days. "Clones should be chosen based on their flavor and yield and performance in different climate profiles. Some don't perform well in hot or cold climates," noted Anamosa.
He commented that mountaintops have less diurnal change than valleys. They're not as hot during the day. "Mountains can be prime areas for Pinot Noir, while the valley floor might be better for Cabernet. It's not just a matter of degree days."
The NDVI of a vineyard often shows that vine growth can exhibit variability within a given unit, but aerial NDVI doesn't work well in terraced or low-vigor vertical trellised vineyards. "An aerial scan in a VSP vineyard may simply be a picture of the cover crops. There, ground-level scans using an all-terrain vehicle work well. This requires the operator to go up and down the rows. It's economical for small vineyards but not large ones," offered Amanosa.
He regarded 40 acres as the minimum size suitable for an aerial scan, which would cost about $400.
Another technology that is changing viticulture is the ability to measure leaf water potential. "A pressure bomb is useful weekly from set to harvest in supporting irrigation decisions, but it takes five to 10 minutes per reading," commented Amanosa. "A leaf porometer measures stomatal conductance and can make a reading in 30 seconds." He added that the readings can also be stored for a data dump into a computer.
One warning, however: Syrah doesn't close its pores even during high temperatures, unlike other grape varieties. This could impact measurements with a porometer.
Anamosa also discussed soil moisture probes, noting that they have limited use. "Tension/pressure measurements don't work well with deficient water management." He said that new technology, such as Stevens probes, can offer wider coverage and also determine salinity.
One aspect of vineyard technology that might be overlooked in a discussion of instrumentation is the importance of field data collection and entry into databases. "Before viticulture technology developed, it represented a big part of the market share," he said.
Now, you can collect water status, phenology (timing of plant events), nutrient levels, fruit maturation, pests and diseases and combine them with results of laboratory tests, tracking labor and equipment, and time sheets, all linked to central databases.
One use of databases is GIS based on GPS, which have been around and in use for some time. GIS can help specify optimum row direction, depending on the slope and aspect of vineyards, for example. Fog analysis can help vineyard management, too, but the information is only as useful as your ability to interpret it. Coupled with experience, this can help guide the planting of vineyards.
Steve McIntyre, Monterey Pacific
The final speaker was Steve McIntyre of Monterey Pacific, a large grower on the Central Coast. "We want to be early adopters of technology, not pioneers. The pioneers often go broke," he said.
He emphasized that turning data into usable information is critical and offered some desired traits to make technology truly useful. "Software is the key. It should operate in real time, be predictive, fast and operate wirelessly. Other desirable characteristics are being based on GPS/GIS, utilizing open architecture, based on the Web and automated."
And it should allow rapid visual interpretation, not the necessity to pore through tables and charts looking for insight.
McIntyre noted that farms now have access to many remote wireless data sensors, and there's a trend from soil-based to plant-based sensors. "We've used pressure sensors since 1997, but you can only make a few tests, and barometric pressure affects them. They're also destructive," he said. He has used Cropwire for three years with success.
McIntyre noted some subtle results of new viticulture technology. "The harvesters can shake the plants less, causing less damage, if there's less vegetation."
He said that Vision Robotics in San Diego is developing mechanical pruning and would love to see it operate like a trip odometer. "We would be able to predict whether we need to thin based on the historic results per acre." wbm
Paul Franson of Napa, California, writes on wine and business.
