Bouchaine Vineyards, based in Napa Valley, California, shared this week that it has integrated Cisco Systems‘ sensor technology throughout its 100 acres of vineyards.
The Cisco Industrial Asset Vision sensors are installed in multiple areas throughout the vineyard to gather data points, including humidity, water availability, temperature, and light. Large vineyards are broken up into “blocks” separated based on topographic features or soil type. The sensors track data block-by-block and upload it to a real-time dashboard.
Each block might receive a different amount of light, and Cisco’s technology can determine how much light is hitting each grapevine in a single block. This information gives insight into the development of tannins and can also be used to inform leafing, fruit thinning, and irrigation of the vines.
A critical insight for the California-based vineyard is water usage. With California constantly experiencing droughts and strain on water sources, knowing when to irrigate is essential. Since the sensors track temperature, this can help the winery irrigate the vines when only necessary, therefore reducing its water usage.
According to a study done by Cornell University, climate change has reduced farm productivity by 20 percent since the 1960s. As a result, farmers are increasingly embracing Internet of Things technology like Cisco’s to monitor and adapt to changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity to fight back. Arable has developed sensor-filled discs that monitor metrics like rainfall, humidity, soil moisture, plant temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, and chlorophyll index. InnerPlant actually turns plants into “living sensors” that change color when something is wrong with it (disease, pests, not enough water, etc.). Another agtech company called CropX uses in-ground sensors to measure soil moisture.
In addition to sensors, Bouchaine uses Cisco Webex, a virtual meeting and event platform, to allow its customers to book virtual tastings through the winery. In the virtual tastings, customers can view a live stream of the vineyard, and a dashboard with information gathered from the sensors.
