Viticulture 4.0 - The Digital Infrastructure

Viticulture is an expanding sector in the UK with up to 500 vineyards and an increasing interest to expand established areas, but the sector is currently at a crossroads. Advancements in digital technology deployed in other sectors make it easier to capture and manage data and gain insights for effective decision making. Growers, agronomists and AgriTech solution providers are looking at the application of these technologies but there are obstacles to overcome particularly around data sharing and integration.

Existing AgriTech solutions have largely been developed in isolation with their own data model driven by the vendor and the application, and when a grower is using multiple different systems, they are frustrated that these systems do not talk to one another making effective decision making more difficult. Some systems appear to be designed to ensure customer retention however there are technical problems in the absence of an industry standard. Overcoming these barriers and creating an open access, industry standard geo-spatial data model will provide new opportunities and accelerate innovation for precision viticulture.

Creating a digital infrastructure within a vineyard, mapping all the critical features such a posts, vines and pathways and other infrastructure like boundaries, irrigation points and converting this geospatial information into an open source dataset will allow multiple AgriTech solutions to be deployed without the need to survey on each occasion, therefore saving time and money, and allowing a grower to choose between multiple potential solution providers with the confidence that each would be able to navigate around the vineyard with a drone, robot or tractor based upon the information provided by the grower.

The nature of deploying this technology will provide agronomic data on crop growth, stress incidences, and yield which will enable effective decisions to be made on targeted inputs, therefore increasing environmental, economic, and social sustainability of this expanding sector, and create a broader audience for innovative solutions.

By creating and developing a digital solution tailored by and for the benefit of the viticulture industry will ensure the outcome will fit the needs of the end users