Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/776679
WINERY & VINEYARD EQUIPMENT February 2017 WINES&VINES 65 San Luis Obispo counties. The company also works with a variety of other crops, includ- ing almonds. FARM DATA SYSTEMS farmdatasystems.com Jack Coots, regional director for Farm Data Systems (FDS), said the company uses hard- ware from several suppliers to get the data needed for their clients. "We're not beholden to a complete system," he said. "We aggregate systems and data-management software ven- dors to meet the needs of the growers." Coots said the first step is to determine exactly what a grower needs, whether it's just the equipment to measure one crucial piece of data or a comprehensive irrigation plan. "Often growers don't know what they need or want," he said. "We spend a lot of time on education and what to expect from equipment." What a client may need can range from a few sensors to an entire telemetry network. The company can set up networks for one property or link multiple, separate sites to- gether by radio, wireless or cellular systems. Once a system is in place to gather data, the information is processed through the irri- gation-scheduling software Probe Schedule to develop a site-specific plan. "The software is really the interface between the data and the customer," Coots said. Growers can view the data through a smartphone or tablet. FDS staff will then work with growers to make sure the system does what is intended. Coots said FDS accom- plishes this through consultations about the data and "ground trothing," in which FDS performs field tests. Because the systems vary from client to client, so does pricing. Coots said it depends on the type of network needed and if the cli- ent seeks additional consulting and input from FDS staff. FRUITION SCIENCES fruitionsciences.com Sebastien Payen and Thibault Scholasch founded Fruition Sciences in 2007 in Oakland, Calif., and the team opened an office in Montpellier, France, two years later. The founding partners developed a unique system to monitor vine water use through small heaters and thermocouples at- tached directly to vines. The copper heater warms the vine, and the thermocouples record the temperature before and after the application of heat. The difference between the two tempera- ture readings indicates how much water is mov- ing through the vine. The water or "sap flow" data is uploaded every 15 minutes through a solar-powered data logger to Fruition Sciences' servers, which in- terpret it using the company's own models. The data is available in real time to any user with a web-enabled device. The company's dashboard provides an instant look at the levels of stress in a vineyard and will issue alerts if vines are approaching a critical point. Using its own mathematical models, Fruition Sciences deter- mines evapotranspiration and vine stress. By focusing on how the vine is actually performing, Fruition Sciences claims its system is the only one on the market that really gauges how weather and soil conditions are affecting the vine. In addition to sap-flow monitoring, the company also offers winter Physiocap map- ping, in which it scans a dormant vineyard to map shoot diameter, number of shoots per vine and vineyard biomass. Growers can then use the data to make better pruning decisions to- ward balance and uniformity. Fruition Sciences