Vines’ smart-tech lifeline

AGRICULTURE, FOOD & WINE

PROFESSOR ANDY LOWE Project supervisor vines’smart-tech PROFESSOR SETH WESTRA Lead researcher lifeline “We’re producing an automated, ‘smart’ irrigation system for wine grapes that lowers labour and water costs, but increases the crop’s value

Australia’s winegrape production is facing a trifecta of challenges: a drying climate, increasing water costs by optimising water delivery at every and more expensive labour. Consequently, growers stage of the vines’ growth.”from South Australia’s Riverland, the country’s largest wine region, are looking to use digital technologies to The project brings together expertise from across the enhance their resource efficiency and bottom lines— University—in viticulture, plant physiology, machine and the University of Adelaide is converting their learning, computer vision, robotics, engineering, hopes to reality. hydrology, systems analysis, modelling, economics In consultation with Riverland growers, the and producer behaviour. University’s researchers have established the VitiVisor “‘Hands-free hectares’ is a term applied to farming project—developing a viticultural information, systems that seek to reduce the amount of labour prediction and advisory platform that will help required by growers, and this is the approach supported lower the cost of winegrape production. by VitiVisor,” says lead researcher Professor Seth Westra.

“In the first phase, the project is focusing on one of viticulture’s most costly resources—water—and its management within the vine canopy during the growing season,” says project supervisor Professor Andy Lowe. “The objective is to develop an integrated system supported by the latest technologies, such as machine learning, computer vision, analytics and robotics. “Historically, vine management requires intensive labour and energy, with a lot of tractor use for spraying and pruning. With VitiVisor, we want growers to have the confidence to use water efficiency as a management tool to control canopy growth, lowering the cost of production by reducing water costs and tractor use.” The project is supported by Wine Australia and industry representative body Riverland Wine, with growers as core members of the design team.