Our cropping is at work 24-hours per day and every day of the week. Our staffing is limited to 8 hours where overtime and weekends add considerable labor cost. Automation doubles the available time to put water down. An urgent capability in response to the challenges of labor, water, and climate!

Irrigation infrastructure investment must be with critical thinking to prepare for the changing economics of wine growing. In doing so, we must ensure that we are not automating hidden inefficiencies. Automation does not guarantee that critical irrigator tribal knowledge is incorporated. Nor does it address compliance or the critical reconciling of actual flows to agronomic intent.

Sure there are distant pumps and vineyards with obvious labor saving benefits from automation. Consider the impact on vineyard operations when it doesn’t work as advertised.

New technology introduced into vineyards creates failure points and maintenance burdens. With increasing reliance on these devices, day-to-day operations are now challenged by service interruption and response. The best solution is often the best boots-on-the-ground.