July 2022 - 9

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The three layers of data that can be charted with the My Efficient Vineyard app.
Graphic: Cornell University
" Some of the conditions we face are
related to our location here in a cool
climate, " she said. " In many years that
means lots of precipitation. We get a
lot of rain. We also have very rich soils
that are high in organic matter and
they have a very high water-holding
capacity. As a function of that, we have
really big vines. "
In California, where most of the
vines are irrigated, they can turn the
water on or off and they can control
the vine size, she said. In New York,
the water is mostly " on, " but when
there's a drought year like 2016, it's
" really off. "
" That's a difficult thing for growers
because we have a whole lot of
vegetative material that we try to deal
with, " she said. " That means our soil
is going to have a significant impact
based on our water-holding capacity
and organic matter. That gives us some
variability in our vineyards that we
need to work around.
Addressing variabilities
Researchers look at the vineyard
soil, plus canopy and crop
characteristics.
New York has a lot of variability in
its soil, he said: the Finger Lakes region
has soils formed by glaciers, the Lake
Erie region has soil created by the Great
Lakes, with changing ridges of soil
moving away from the Lakes. There are
numerous other variables, he said.
" Water nutrient availability changes
within feet in a vineyard. That will
change vine size, " Bates said. " Light
interception, which we try to capture
with sensors, and the whole idea of
trying to estimate the crop using
sensors in the vineyard. All of those
things vary. We try to put it together to
do our variable rate management. "
" Our approach to precision
viticulture is determining how you
want to manage that variability, "
Bates said. " Currently, most growers
just have a block. They kind of shoot
for the mean of that block and they
have one management strategy giving
them uniform management in a nonuniform
system.
" The future is how can we get
down to vine-to-vine management
using sensors and technology and
robots, for which we're not quite
there yet, " he said. " We focus on
zones or management classifications.
We take that data and try to create
management classifications. "
Hyperspectral approach
Vanden Heuvel stressed the
importance of this type of technology
in the grape-growing and winemaking
process.
" We absolutely need it, " she said. " All
of these technologies are going to help in
terms of environmental sustainability. "
Vanden Heuvel pointed to the work of
Cornell's Katie Gold, assistant professor
of grape pathology, who has researched
hyperspectral sensing of diseases.
" Instead of just spraying when you
see a disease that's already taken hold
in the vine, you have an alert and you
spray earlier and determine whether
you're going to spray or not based on
this hyperspectral sensing of the vine, "
Vanden Heuvel said. " Then, people
are only spraying when they need to
instead of spraying more often. There's
probably a hundred other examples I
could give where it would really help
environmental sustainability.
The Cornell team concentrates on
readily accessible technology.
" We've been using cell phone
images, " she said. " We use it for cluster
counting and for the shoot tips, as
well. (For) the cluster numbers. The
cluster number is the biggest factor
when we're predicting yield. "
" From a production standpoint,
if you go back to the 1940s, a lot of
our vineyards were planted with a
horse, " Bates said. " They overapplied
fertilizers in the 1950s and used pretty
bad chemicals in the 1960s. What we're
striving for in today's vineyards are
safety and efficiency. Our vineyards are
more productive now than ever. Our
fruit quality is better than ever. There's
a big push toward environmental
sustainability, protection of the farm
workers so that they're not exposed to
anything harmful and then to have a
safe food product for our consumers.
" All of that revolution only occurs
because growers accept and adopt
science and technology, " Bates said.
" Precision viticulture is just the next
step in that. " FGN
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FGN | JULY 2022 | 9
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July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2022
