Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/333548
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m J u l y - A u g 2 014 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 1 7 BEAUTY AND BRAWN Stockton, CA 95205 • 209.944.0921 WesternSquare.com Lean, Green and Made in America WESTERN SQUARE I N D U S T R I E S informed decision, based on the need and ability to increase quality, reduce processing costs, increase sustainability and better manage resources, or to sell more wine. I n a p r e s e n t a t i o n o n "Vineyard Operations of the Future," viticulture professor and geneticist Dr. Andy Walker noted that technology, data management and precision management of agronomic crops such as wheat, soy- beans and corn is way ahead of grape production. "Remote sensing to detect nitrogen and water stress in wheat has been used for years, and in many agronomic crops, they are gathering and using data each season to make deci- sions about how to farm next year," Walker said. Technologies are available and being used more exten- sively in other crop production systems. Walker explained, "Sensors and Global Position- ing Systems tell us where problems are occurring, and Geographic Information Sys- tems can allow us to layer dif- ferent views of vineyard and vine data to help us under- stand how it all fits together." H e a c k n o w l e d g e d , " T h e s e systems are not cheap or per- fect yet, but at the very least they can tell us where the v a r i a b i l i t y, t h e s t r o n g a n d weak areas of the vineyard are, to help us manage that variability." Walker said the vineyard of the future will be highly moni- tored, use remote sensing at canopy and ground level, use technology to continuously monitor vine water status, and more fully utilize satellite and aerial imaging technologies. UC Davis Professor Emeritus Robert Smiley (left) and Viticulture & Enology Department Chair David Block address UC Davis Wine Executive Program attendees. Photo: Ted Rieger