Large Vineyard Research Articles

Investigating the Role of Cover-Crop Spectra for Vineyard Monitoring from Airborne and Spaceborne Remote Sensing

The monitoring of grape quality parameters within viticulture using airborne remote sensing is an increasingly important aspect of precision viticulture. Airborne remote sensing allows high volumes of spatial consistent data to be collected with improved efficiency over ground-based surveys. Spectral data can be used to understand the characteristics of vineyards, including the characteristics and health of the vines. Within viticultural remote sensing, the use of cover-crop spectra for monitoring is often overlooked due to the perceived noise it generates within imagery. However, within viticulture, the cover crop is a widely used and important management tool. This study uses multispectral data acquired by a high-resolution uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) and Sentinel-2 MSI to explore the benefit that cover-crop pixels could have for grape yield and quality monitoring. This study was undertaken across three growing seasons in the southeast of England, at a large commercial wine producer. The site was split into a number of vineyards, with sub-blocks for different vine varieties and rootstocks. Pre-harvest multispectral UAV imagery was collected across three vineyard parcels. UAV imagery was radiometrically corrected and stitched to create orthomosaics (red, green, and near-infrared) for each vineyard and survey date. Orthomosaics were segmented into pure cover-cropuav and pure vineuav pixels, removing the impact that mixed pixels could have upon analysis, with three vegetation indices (VIs) constructed from the segmented imagery. Sentinel-2 Level 2a bottom of atmosphere scenes were also acquired as close to UAV surveys as possible. In parallel, the yield and quality surveys were undertaken one to two weeks prior to harvest. Laboratory refractometry was performed to determine the grape total acid, total soluble solids, alpha amino acids, and berry weight. Extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost v2.1.1) was used to determine the ability of remote sensing data to predict the grape yield and quality parameters. Results suggested that pure cover-cropuav was a successful predictor of grape yield and quality parameters (range of R2 = 0.37–0.45), with model evaluation results comparable to pure vineuav and Sentinel-2 models. The analysis also showed that, whilst the structural similarity between the both UAV and Sentinel-2 data was high, the cover crop is the most influential spectral component within the Sentinel-2 data. This research presents novel evidence for the ability of cover-cropuav to predict grape yield and quality. Moreover, this finding then provides a mechanism which explains the success of the Sentinel-2 modelling of grape yield and quality. For growers and wine producers, creating grape yield and quality prediction models through moderate-resolution satellite imagery would be a significant innovation. Proving more cost-effective than UAV monitoring for large vineyards, such methodologies could also act to bring substantial cost savings to vineyard management.

Environmental and management factors drive biological communities and ecosystem services in agroecosystems along an urban-natural gradient

Biodiversity, ecosystem services and farming are inextricably linked. Peri-urban agricultural landscapes host wild species, provide essential services, and benefit citizens of nearby towns. We investigated the environmental and management factors that influence avian communities, pollinating insects and two key ecosystem services (pollination and nature-based recreation) along an urban-natural gradient dominated by agricultural areas (vineyards, apple orchards and grasslands) in northern Italy. Flower visiting-insects were mainly affected by management and environmental-climatic variables. The presence of flowers at the margins and within vineyard and apple orchard inter-rows best predicted the abundance of pollinators and flower-visiting insects in general. Different flower species exerted variable effects on different groups; a mix of flowering species should be recommended for supporting pollinators. Sward height and grassland cover promoted flower-visiting insect abundance, which was negatively affected by vineyards and apple orchards. Bird communities were mainly shaped by land-use/land-cover and management variables. Landscape heterogeneity and linear elements had a major positive effect on birds. Apple orchards negatively influenced species richness and the abundance of most avian species, while vineyards negatively impacted on overall bird abundance; hedgerows positively affected richness. Nature-based recreation was greater in areas with low or intermediate vineyard or urban cover. Apple orchards and intensively managed grasslands had negative, and waterways positive, effects on recreation. Peri-urban agricultural landscapes are important for biodiversity and ecosystem services, but apple orchards and large vineyards appear largely unsuitable. Maintaining heterogeneous landscapes and implementing biodiversity-friendly practices can further promote benefits for biodiversity and visitors and local populations. Synergic strategies that simultaneously promote the conservation of biodiversity and the supply of ecosystem services could be easily developed and implemented.

Le Maréchal-duc de Richelieu, l’héritier du cardinal, un homme de pouvoir et de guerre au Siècle des Lumières. Par Émilie Champion

Louis-François-Armand Du Plessis was born in 1696. He was lucky. Not merely was he born into a powerful court dynasty at Versailles, but he was set to inherit two dukedoms and a peerage, and vast estates scattered throughout Aquitaine and the Loire Valley. His family was not as ancient as other court dynasties, but as relatives of Louis XIII’s principal minister and great favourite Cardinal Richelieu they remained a force to be reckoned with in the kingdom. Even so, his father’s gambling debts had jeopardized the family’s finances and forced the sale of some important court offices. On first regard the third duke, with a legendary reputation as a debauched womanizer and best friend of Louis XV, seems neither a sympathetic figure nor a particularly promising life to chronicle. Yet he was to rescue the family’s fortunes and reverse the decline. Émilie Champion, in her sumptuously researched ‘total’ biography, demonstrates that the third duke was a meticulous and shrewd manager of his estates. Indeed, he cherished the large vineyards on his Fronsac fiefs and became something of a representative for French wines, especially great clarets, throughout Europe. Still, he was driven by his friendship with Louis XV and his unrestrained political ambition. He was a soldier by vocation, whose defence of Genoa and the Siege of British Minorca gained him the coveted title of Marshal of France. Despite this his troops were ill disciplined during the 1757 Hanover campaign, pillaging everything in sight and failing to come to the Prince de Soubise’s aid during the disastrous Battle of Rossbach. Such behaviour gained him a decidedly mixed reputation as a commander.

Responses of birds to vineyard abandonment in Slovakia

Vineyards are semi-natural, human-modified ecosystems where the extent of natural elements is determined primarily by the type of management and by the abandonment rate. In this study, we analyzed bird assemblages in 40 vineyard plots in six wine-growing regions of Slovakia. We examined bird communities on managed and abandoned vineyards to identify possible patterns. Environmental and spatial predictors of species richness and abundance were analyzed using partial redundancy analysis (pRDA) and a generalized additive model (GAM). Bird communities were influenced by both environmental and spatial factors. As expected, elevation explained most of the variation in bird assemblages. Tree coverage was found to be more important than the vineyard abandonment rate in explaining the observed variability. Only a portion of the variance in the species data reported by pRDA was accounted for by the difference in vineyard abandonment degree. Our results show that the species richness of all birds was positively correlated to vegetation density (captured by NDVI). Herb and shrub cover had less effect on bird species richness than tree cover and the presence of traditional agricultural vineyard landscapes. However, shrub density emerged as a key explanatory factor for the abundance of habitat specialists. Our study shows that, depending on whether the goal is to promote the diversity and abundance of farmland or non-farmland bird species, different conservation biology approaches should be used. Increasing the landscape diversity and avoiding large vineyard abandonment are necessary if we are to stem the decline of valuable farmland species. • The area of managed vineyards in Slovakia continues to decrease. • The species richness of all birds positively correlated to NDVI. • Tree coverage was found to be one of the most important factors in explaining bird species variation. • The shrub density turned out to be a key explanatory factor of habitat specialist abundance. • Bird abundance and species richness increased continuously with the presence of the traditional agricultural landscape.

Grapevine recovery after fire and a first look at rapid damage assessment with satellite imagery

There is increasing scientific consensus that climate change is one of the underlying causes of the prolonged dry and hot conditions that have increased the risk of extreme fire weather inmany countries around the world. In December 2019, a bushfire occurred in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, where 25,000 hectares were burnt, and in vineyards and surrounding areas various degrees of scorching and infrastructure damage occurred. The ability to coordinate and plan recovery after a fire event relies on robust and timely data. The current practice for measuring the scale and distribution of fire damage is to walk or drive the vineyard and score individual vines based on visual observation. The process is time consuming, subjective, or semi-quantitative at best. After the December 2019 fires, it took many months to access properties and estimate the area of vineyard damaged. This study compares the rapid assessment and mapping of fire damage using high-resolution satellite imagery with more traditional ground-based measures. Correlations between ground visual fire damage assessments and postfire NDVI (-­0.347 to -0.084) and VARIgreen (-0.333 to 0.074) satellite imagery were significant but showed no correlation to a weak negative correlation. Canopy growth, vine fertility and starch concentrations were tracked in the two seasons following the fire event to assess vine recovery. Canopy health in the seasons following the fires correlated to the severity of the initial fire damage. Severely damaged vines had reduced canopy growth, were infertile or had very low fertility as well as lower starch concentrations in buds and canes during dormancy, which reduced productivity in the seasons following the bushfire event. In contrast, vines that received minor-moderate damage were able to recover within 1-2 years. Tools that rapidly and affordably capture the extent and severity of damage over large vineyard area will allow producers, government and industry bodies to manage decisions in relation to fire recovery planning, coordination and delivery, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their response.

Rethinking vineyard ground management to counter soil tillage erosion

Tillage erosion is a relevant process of soil redistribution in sloping arable land, but little research has analysed the effect of shallow tillage on soil erosion in vineyards. The goal of this study was to quantify the soil tillage effect on soil translocation and erosion at the territorial level in a large vineyard area in Sicily. The soil loss and soil erosion tolerance limits were compared to identify the vineyards with a high risk of soil degradation. An alternative management scenario to traditional tillage was proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of the best management practices on soil conservation. The experimental trials were conducted in 14 vineyards with different slopes and soil characteristics. Soil translocation after shallow tillage was determined using coloured sand as the tracer. Regression results between the slope and mean translocation distance (T) were used to estimate tillage erosion (Qplot) in 2840 vineyard plots within a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) area, considering the number of inter-rows and the length of each plot. After a single tillage operation in the downslope direction, the mean translocation distance ranged from 0.22 m to 0.45 m in the slope of 4% and 32%, respectively. At the plot level (Mg yr−1 per plot), the size and shape of the field must be considered, and the number of inter-rows was the predominant factor in tillage erosion estimation in vineyards. When comparing tillage erosion of each inter-row and soil erosion tolerance, the findings showed that 94% of the analysed plots had a high tillage erosion risk. Therefore, more attention should be paid to tillage operations in terms of type and intensity. The plots with high erosion risk decreased to 74% when best management practices with a cover crop in the entire PDO area were adopted. This study highlights the contribution of high tillage erosion to overall soil erosion losses, suggesting specific attention should be paid to more sustainable practices in soil management.

Mechanization of Pruning, Canopy Management, and Harvest in Winegrape Vineyards

<h3>Summary</h3> <h3>Aim:</h3> In winegrape production, pruning, canopy management, and harvest are essential practices that are increasingly being done by machines. How well these practices are executed can substantially affect fruit yield and quality. Mechanization offers timeliness, uniformity, and cost benefits, but most methods available to date are nonselective and optimal execution requires careful attention to vineyard design, management, and machine settings. This review provides information to help growers make the best use of machines for these tasks. <h3>Key Themes:</h3> Vineyard design considerations Winter pruning Canopy management Harvesting <h3>Impact and Significance:</h3> The need to manage large vineyards in a contracting labor market is achievable with mechanization. This review summarizes the best practices in consideration of vineyard design, as well as operation of machines for optimal productivity for the winegrape grower. This review also provides information to help growers effectively incorporate the machines in their vineyards for consistent and economical production of winegrapes including pruning, shoot-thinning, fruit-zone leaf removal, crop load management, and mechanical harvest.

Development of a Low-Cost Semantic Monitoring System for Vineyards Using Autonomous Robots

Many tasks involved in viticulture are labor intensive. Farmers frequently monitor the vineyard to check grape conditions, damage due to infections from pests and insects, grape growth, and to estimate optimal harvest time. Such monitoring is often done manually by the farmers. Manual monitoring of large vineyards is time and labor consuming process. To this end, robots have a big potential to increase productivity in farms by automating various tasks. We propose a low-cost semantic monitoring system for vineyards using autonomous robots. The system uses inexpensive cameras, processing boards, and sensors to remotely provide timely information to the farmers on their computer and smart phone. Unlike traditional systems, the proposed system logs data ‘semantically’, which enables pin-pointed monitoring of vineyards. In other words, the farmers can monitor only specific areas of the vineyard as desired. The proposed algorithm is robust for occlusions, and intelligently logs image data based on the movement of the robot. The proposed system was tested in actual vineyards with real robots. Due to its compactness and portability, the proposed system can be used as an extension in conjunction with already existing autonomous robot systems used in vineyards. The results show that pin-pointed remote monitoring of desired areas of the vineyard is a very useful and inexpensive tool for the farmers to save a lot of time and labor.

Psychological warfare in vineyard: Using drones and bird psychology to control bird damage to wine grapes

Bird damage to commercial crops is a significant problem across the globe, especially for high value crops like wine grapes. Various bird control methods have been developed in the past to reduce bird damage. After a brief review of the current bird damage control strategies, we found the most effective methods, such as netting and hiring a human scarer, rely on intensive manual labour, as well as fragile and costly infrastructure. Whereas the cheaper methods, such as using alarm calls and predator models, are effective for no more than two weeks before the birds habituate to them. We are proposing a novel Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, more commonly referred to as drone) system incorporating bird psychology for efficient bird damage control. The UAV is equipped with a loud speaker broadcasting distress calls, as well as a crow taxidermy installed on the undercarriage that appears as captured prey. This special UAV configuration is designed to engage birds’ well-established abilities to learn to recognise and avoid novel predators, thus providing the benefit that a long-term fear response towards the UAV can be expected. The initial trials were carried out in vineyards around south-eastern Australia. Results indicated the UAV can deter large pest birds such as ravens and cockatoos in a 50-m radius centred on the UAV for an extended period of time. The UAV can also effectively deter small pest birds such as silvereyes for brief time periods after exposure to the UAV. It is also evident from the results that while one UAV is sufficient to protect vineyards smaller than 25 ha, multiple UAVs are needed to protect a large vineyard effectively.

Two methods for processing yield maps from multiple sensors in large vineyards in California

Yield mapping techniques have only recently started to be implemented by the Californian wine grape industry, but the advancement has necessitated new processing methods for large vineyards. The process for mapping large blocks harvested with multiple machines has only recently occurred and implies that their yield monitors have to be calibrated and corrected to the same scale. Here we discuss two methods for processing yield maps at the commercial level. Method 1 depends on many calibrations with delivered fruit weight to a winery. Method 2 normalizes raw files automatically can reduce total processing time by up to 90%.

Patterns of bird diversity and habitat use in mixed vineyard-matorral landscapes of Central Chile

The Mediterranean climate region of central Chile is rich in biodiversity and contains highly productive agricultural lands, which creates challenges for the preservation of natural habitats and native biodiversity. Ecological data and studies for the region are also limited, making informed conservation in agricultural landscapes difficult. The increasing availability of remotely sensed data provide opportunities to relate species occurrences to measures of landscape heterogeneity even when field measures of habitat structure are lacking. When working with such remotely sensed data, it’s important to select appropriate measures of heterogeneity, including common metrics of landscape composition as well as frequently overlooked shape metrics. In this contribution we combine bird surveys with multispectral satellite imagery to develop boosted regression tree models of avian species richness, and of habitat use for 15 species across a mixed vineyard-matorral landscape in central Chile. We found a range of associations between individual species and land cover types, with the majority of species occurring most frequently in remnant habitats and ecotones rather than the interiors of large vineyard blocks. Models identified both metrics of landscape composition and patch shape as being important predictors of species occurrence, suggesting that shape metrics can complement more commonly used metrics of landscape composition. Vineyards that include corridors or islands of remnant habitat among vine blocks may increase the amount of area available to many species, although some species may still require large tracts of intact natural habitat to persist.

Avian pest control in vineyards is driven by interactions between bird functional diversity and landscape heterogeneity

Summary Insectivorous birds are increasingly recognized for the crucial pest control services they provide to agroecosystems. While both the foraging activity and functional diversity of birds are enhanced by multiscale habitat heterogeneity, little is known about how these relationships may influence avian top‐down control of insects. Specifically, interactive effects of bird community structure and habitat heterogeneity on pest control across spatial scales have rarely been explored. We sampled bird communities and measured avian predation on plasticine model prey, as a proxy for lepidopteran pest control, in 20 vineyards of south‐western France. Vineyards differed both in sward heterogeneity at the local scale and amount of surrounding semi‐natural habitats at the landscape scale. Functional diversity metrics and community‐weighted mean traits were computed for bird communities based on a species–trait table including diet, foraging method, nesting site, migration strategy, laying date, home range size, clutch size and body mass. We used mixed models to test for the interacting effects of habitat heterogeneity and bird functional diversity on avian predation rates of plasticine prey. Contrary to expectations, bird functional diversity decreased with landscape‐scale heterogeneity, but was higher in vineyards managed with heterogeneous sward structures. In contrast, foliage‐gleaning insectivores were more abundant in landscapes supporting more semi‐natural habitats, suggesting an increase in their contribution to pest control along the landscape heterogeneity gradient. Accordingly, we found that avian predation on plasticine prey increased with bird functional evenness both in more heterogeneous vineyards at the local scale and in landscape mosaics supporting more semi‐natural habitats. Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates that habitat heterogeneity at both local and landscape scales influenced avian insectivory in vineyard agroecosystems by interacting with bird community structure. It provides important insights for ecological intensification in vineyards, pointing out that management options need to be adapted to both the functional composition of local bird communities and landscape context. We suggest that both on‐field and off‐field management can be used to enhance natural pest control services provided by birds in vineyards, especially by favouring sward heterogeneity and patches of semi‐natural habitats within large vineyard stands at the landscape scale.

Sustainability and regenerative leadership in the viticulture industry: a case study in the transformation of a leading California winery and vineyard

Organisations are increasingly aware of the impact of their behaviours on stakeholders, communities and on living systems. This awareness stems from the ever increasing evidence that all economic activity makes demands on the natural world through resource extraction and waste assimilation. Industrial agriculture makes huge demands on natural resources and produces prodigious amounts of waste in need of disposal. This case study examines how one large winery and vineyard has successfully made the transition from a traditional, singular focus on profitability to becoming initially a sustainable enterprise and more recently a regenerative company. The company has demonstrated that financial success, industry leadership, and brand and company recognition are optimally realised by committing to environmental wellness, community health, employee welfare and regenerative organisational design strategies.

The country-brand in the wine industry: how important is variety specialization?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether or not the reputation of a region/country in the international wine market depends on a region/country’s efforts to specialize in a specific grape variety. Design/methodology/approach Data on 19,959 bottles of wine corresponding to six vintages across ten wine producing regions worldwide are used to estimate a hedonic price model that measures consumer valuations of the different wine attributes. Findings The results of this study show that although variety specialization has successfully underpinned the reputation of some New World regions, such as the Napa Valley (with its Cabernet Sauvignon) or Oregon (with its Pinot Noir); in others, such as Australia (with its Shiraz), this has not been successful. Practical implications Over the last ten years, the exponential growth of Australian bulk wine exports has seriously harmed the reputation of Australian wine. With respect to the Napa Valley wines, price discount received by Australian wines increases between the 1997 and 2007 vintage from 33 to 61 percent. Thus, in order to successfully build a collective reputation of an entrant (New World) country, an institutional framework that mediates differences of interest between the large and small vineyards and, above all, that regulates the free-rider problem in the wine market is required. Originality/value This paper empirically illustrates how cooperative (and non-cooperative) behavior between firms can help to build (and to destroy) collective reputation of wines that come from the same region or country.

An analysis of relationship between food safety and pesticides usages of grape growers in Manisa province

This study was carried out in Manisa which has the largest vineyard areas and grape production of Turkey. In this research, awareness of environment and pesticide using attitudes of growers and effects on food safety of pesticides were investigated. Main data of the study was collected by survey from 117 grape growers which are settled in Manisa province where sultana production is very widespread. Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), for reaching quality raisin and table grape target, conventional and environment friendly pesticides preference priorities were estimated. The AHP was applied to determine conventional and environment friendly pesticides usages of grape growers related to food safety. As a conclusion, it is understood that this target could be reached with 66.8% using environment friendly pesticides.

A field scale model for the spread of fungal diseases in crops: the example of a powdery mildew epidemic over a large vineyard

The aim of this article is to derive an asymptotic two‐scale model for the propagation of a fungal disease over a large vineyard. The original model is based on a singularly perturbed system of two linear reaction‐diffusion equations coupled with a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations in a highly heterogeneous medium. We prove the well‐posedness of the asymptotic model and obtain a convergence result confirmed by numerical simulations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Spirits of Guasti

There was once a city here in Southern California, a lovely replica and reimagining of a village from the Piedmont area of Italy. Once, it was the center of life for hundreds of families who came from the mountains of southern Italy to work for Secondo Guasti, who picked grapes and made them into wine and packed the barrels onto railroad cars. Secondo Guasti built an entire little world here, with a town named for himself. The surrounding land was planted in vineyards, grapes famous for sacramental wines, communion wines, and a world-famous dark red port. The Italian Vineyard Company was the largest vineyard in the world in 1917, with 5,000 acres of grapevines that produced 5 million gallons of wine a year, vintages that were sent all over the world.

Associations between lithology and land-use in a wine production region (Bairrada region, Portugal)

In this work, we analyze the spatial relationships between land-use and lithology in the wine production region of Bairrada (Portugal) and present a new lithological map (1:50,000) created for the region, highlighting the associations with specific types of land-use. The study was focused on the area of Bairrada that establishes the appellation DOC-VQPRD wines. The region shows a heterogeneous lithology and land-use and it is found that these two variables are not independent. Three different zones with characteristic land-use and geology can be distinguished in Bairrada: a western zone where aeolian sand deposits are associated with coniferous forests; an eastern zone with Precambrian and Paleozoic metasedimentary units associated with broad leaf forests; and a central zone with diversified Mesozoic and Cenozoic units in which most vineyards are placed. There is a clear association between a Jurassic marly and dolomitic unit and an occupation by vineyards, which is particularly obvious when larger vineyards are considered. The vineyards are also common when these Jurassic units are covered by relatively thin siliciclastic sediments.

Acoustics of vineyard concert hall concerning the audience and the performers

Designing a vineyard hall is generally considered as more challenging and time consuming than designing a shoebox hall. Acoustics design of a moderately large vineyard hall was investigated by computer simulation regarding both the audience and the performers. Alternative schemes with orthogonal and splayed terraces were developed with design strategies featuring seating arrangement, wall inclining, ceiling pitch, recess of remote side seating, wall splaying, riser slope, and railing arrangement. Low correlations among most acoustical measures indicated the potential for setting diverse design goals. Optimized schemes with a frontal terrace increased high-frequency components of a voice source by nearly 2 dB for the seats surrounding the stage while confined spatial decay of strength and sustained early decay were achieved. Lateral energy fraction was mainly determined by inclination and splaying of the terraces and side walls. Without significantly affecting energy distribution for the audience, layouts ...

The Limits to Unified Claims against European Agricultural Policies: A Comparative Analysis of Wine Producers in France and Romania

In 2008, a reform of the European Common Market Organisation (CMO) for wine was introduced. It consisted in helping ‘uncompetitive producers’ to step out of the wine market. The aim was to offer the ‘competitive producers’ the pos- sibility of increasing their vineyards and developing large-scale production patterns on the model of the New World. The article focuses on the defense of the smallest wine producers invited to give up their traditional activities. It analyses the current dynamics in the departement of Aude in France and the judet of Vrancea in Romania – two areas where there is a huge gap between poor producers and owners of large vineyards who could benefit from the reform. Stemming from the theoretical framework worked out by Pierre Bourdieu, the emphasis is laid on the objectification mechanisms by which some organizations managed to unify wine-growers’ claims in the past. The comparison between case studies drives to the conclusion that these mechanisms have not been activated since 2008, either because the reform of the CMO makes them inefficient or because wine-growers by-pass the new policies by other means.