Tuesdays on the BottleBlog, we'll focus on interesting or exciting industry news from here in New Jersey, to the valleys of California, to the vineyards of New Zealand.
Some grape growers benefit from high-tech system that monitor crop quality for vineyards
by Don Curlee
A few grape growers in California will make use of a new high-tech system this year that monitors micro-climates in their vineyards. By following the systems' electronic directions they hope to increase the quality and quantity of the grapes they produce and the wine that comes from them.
Tiny sensors that can be imbedded in selected vines are the eyes and ears of the system. The monitors, called motes, relay data about temperature, moisture, atmospheric pressure, airborne particles and more to a central receiver for analysis.
Although the system is new and expensive at about $150 per acre, it has been employed for the past two or three years by at least two of the state's major wine grape producers. Representatives of both have praised the systems' gathering of information they have not had access to previously
Eventually the system's supplier expects it to be available for tree crops and other specialty agricultural applications. It is produced by Grape Networks, Inc. in San Ramon.
Company President Peter Tsepeleff says the system known as Climate Genie will relay the information it monitors almost anywhere and by several means. After data are picked up by the sensors they can be transmitted by Wi-Fi, cellular units or satellite to Internet servers for viewing anywhere in the world where a web browser is available.
The growers who have been using it say it indicates what they are doing right as well as what they are doing wrong. Measurements from some high production blocks reveal the conditions they want to duplicate elsewhere.
In some cases the growers thought they were treating the vines in a vineyard uniformly, only to be told by the sensors that certain vines were experiencing water stress, for example, or heavier tendencies to mildew formation than other vines.
One Climate Genie can monitor the microclimate of a vineyard up to 100 acres. Additional systems can be installed to cover larger areas, even in separate locations, with information transmitted to a central point.
Tsepeleff predicts that future models of the system will detect and transmit soil moisture data to a central location. Growers of any number of crops with sand or clay streaks running through their orchards or fields will profit greatly from such information.
Monitoring the response of a crop or individual trees or vines within the crop to fertilization or other chemical applications will provide invaluable information to farm managers. Operation of the system somewhat like a thermostat can be programmed. A predetermined level of leaf moisture, for example, can be established. When monitored plants approach that level, whether increasing or decreasing, an alarm will notify system operators. Tsepeleff said the Climate Genie grew out of work done by the Stanford Censor Working Group. Some of its findings are being used by the military and in other applications to determine whether approaching vehicles carry certain chemicals or explosives.
Article originally published in the Visalia Times-Delta Advance-Register on February 12, 2011.
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