Agri Tech

Simon Yarrow addressing a full house at the Agritech event in Blenheim

SOPHIE PREECE

“IF YOU are an innovation taker instead of innovation maker, you will always be at the end of the line,” says Simon Yarrow of Callaghan Innovation. The group manager of Agri-food was speaking at an Agritech Connector event – ‘Tech in the Vineyards’ – held in Marlborough last month, showcasing an exciting array of technology “makers” in viticulture.

The sold out event, held in collaboration with the Bragato Research Institute and Agritech New Zealand, brought together the wine industry, technology companies, and “enablers”, including Government agencies like Callaghan, helping drive the success of home grown agritech.

Together, they looked at several cutting edge programmes, including the autonomous tractor collaboration of Pernod Ricard Winemakers New Zealand and Marlborough-based Smart Machine (see facing page), and the Maaratech Project’s artificial intelligence, augmented reality and robotics initiatives (see below).

A field trip gave attendees the chance to explore those innovations and others, including the work of Cropsey Technologies, monitoring grapevines through the collection of objective data on pests, disease and yield estimations, using imagery captured throughout the vineyard. Another tech start-up – Hectre – showed attendees how its software can be used in vineyards for harvest management and quality control, and its ability to count, size and colour a bin of picked fruit based on the top layer.

The New Zealand wine industry has “not been shy” in challenging old ways of doing things, “but technological uptake has often been taken from offshore or modified from other industries, such as our dairy industry”, says Simon. “What we are seeing is the next generation… Now we have some fantastic examples of locally developed solutions in the wine industry.” He says there’s also plenty of cross pollination between industries, with the likes of Hectre beginning in apple and citrus orchards, then evolving to serve viticulture as well.

Technological advancements are advantageous to those in the wine sector, but the real action happens when they are taken to an international stage, he says. “My belief, and shared by a number of folks in the industry, is that if we have a really strong international technology sector that will be a huge benefit for the growers here in New Zealand.” Developing technology is an expensive business, and in order to invest sufficiently, tech companies will require a global marketplace, he says.

“Ten or 20 years ago there was this feeling that you had to keep the tech for New Zealand growers,” Simon says. But there’s a growing realisation that home grown technology on a global stage gives New Zealand industry the first bite of cutting edge innovations, which are better enabled by international opportunities. “It’s definitely a synergistic relationship.”

Simon emceed the Agritech Connector event, and discussed the New Zealand Government’s Agritech Industry Transformation Plan – launched in July 2020 – around commercialisation in the agritech space. He says having industry, tech companies and enablers connecting is “where really good things happen”, with relationships, partnerships and commercial outcomes. “Our job is to try to bring those groups together.”

Strong as an Oxin – home grown technology

Pernod Ricard Winemakers is “leading the evolution of autonomous vineyard tractors across the New Zealand wine industry”, says transformation director Alex Kahl.

Last month the company announced that work with Marlborough-based agri-tech startup Smart Machine had resulted in the development of an autonomous vineyard tractor called Oxin, which combines viticulture, engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. It has deep knowledge of vineyard production and processes to carry out tasks including mowing, mulching, leaf removal and trimming, says Alex, calling it the start of a new era of technological advancement in vineyards. “We are moving through the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We believe that this could be a game changer for the wine industry and comparable to the shift in other historical agricultural practices, like when we moved from working the land with horses to tractors.”

He says the vehicles enable Pernod Ricard Winemakers to “radically improve” the efficiency of vineyard machinery, while increasing precision, sustainability and safety across vineyard operations, “as well as maintaining the creation of highquality, award-winning wines for our consumers.”

The vehicles autonomously navigate pre-determined ‘missions’ in the vineyard that are allocated by an operator, and have been designed to detect hazards, and to pause a mission until an operator has checked it is safe to continue. The autonomous and multi-tasking abilities of the vehicles result in less fuel consumption per hectare than conventional tractors, making them a more fuel efficient and sustainable approach to viticulture.

Smart Machine, whose founders have experience in mechanical design, automation and viticulture, worked in partnership with Pernod Ricard Winemakers to develop the industry-leading technology following a rigorous process of research, development and validation. Chief executive Andrew Kersley says working in close partnership with Pernod Ricard Winemakers enabled the creation of “bespoke” piece of vineyard technology with potential to “revolutionise” the way vineyards operate. “We look forward to the opportunity to support the New Zealand wine industry more broadly as it innovates to become future fit.”

Pernod Ricard Winemakers is currently piloting four AVTs in their Marlborough vineyards, capable of operating across 850 hectares, with an additional five vehicles to be added to the fleet in spring 2021.

Andrew Kersley and Alex Kahl with Oxin technology. Photo by Jim Tannock

Getting virtual in the vines

Home grown technology may soon see pruners trained through virtual reality, and pruning decisions guided by assisted reality. The MaaraTech Human Assist Project – granted $16.8 million from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Endeavour Fund in 2018 – is working on robots and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for horticulture and viticulture in New Zealand. The project is led by the University of Auckland, in collaboration with the University of Canterbury, Lincoln Agritech, Plant & Food Research, the University of Waikato and the University of Otago.

Professor Bruce MacDonald of Auckland University says the original plan was for the assisted reality tool, for which pruners will wear goggles and be guided in making the best cuts. But discussions with growers led to the development of the virtual reality technology, which is the most advanced of the projects in terms of completion and commercial viability. That will allow pruners to be trained up before reaching an actual vineyard. Both technologies will be trialled in New Zealand vineyards this year. The group is also working on a robot platform that will travel down vineyard rows collecting data to inform the AI, and will ultimately be armed with attachments that will allow it to reach over the rows to prune and thin vines.