Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/946131
GRAPEGROWER INTERVIEW March 2018 WINES&VINES 33 in high school, and is run along the soil surface. Using this tool, our soil scientist can minimize the number of field sampling pits needed to identify natural vineyard block boundaries. After designing the blocks, we then employ California Agricultural Soilworks to rip our vine rows and incorporate the needed compost and fertilizers. They use self-driving tractors that rip the exact vine row at sub-inch accuracy and couple their patented hydraulic ripper to fold and mix the compost and fertilizer at depth at the exact spot where roots will be growing. These GPS-guided tractors give us precise rows for trellis and plants without excessive tractor work and ground disturbance. Q Are there highly touted technologies that you think aren't quite ready for prime time? Heinzen: I'd say that almost all technology has some significant contribution it can make to farming, but some of the tools present solutions to problems that we don't have or just won't scale. I understand the value of drones in Mid- west agriculture and perhaps winery market- ing, but I don't yet see applications at the vineyard level that reduce labor or replace older technology. I'm probably a bit jaded, given my kids have destroyed the four helicop- ters they received as gifts, each on maiden voyages, but we have contracted or trialed drone services for imagery at least three years and have yet to see the advantage over plane or satellite imagery. I'm excited to see some of the UAV helicopters used for spraying, but the payload, cost and need for on-site supervision and specialized handling seems outsized rela- tive to value. The technologies I mentioned as investment-ready are all integrated, under- stood and applied by our current tractor opera- tors or field personnel. We don't need additional licensing or complicated training. I will say that my dream application for drones is for them to work autonomously patrolling and harassing birds away from ripe fruit. We spend far too many labor hours on bird-control activi- ties and putting up bird nets. Q As growers confront looming labor s h o r t a g e s , m o re m e c h a n i z a t i o n seems inevitable. How have items like me- chanical harvesters improved in recent years? Are vintners who produce higher end wines becoming more open to me- chanical harvesting? Heinzen: It's exciting to see technology move from the crush pad to the field with the intro- duction of many brands of machine harvesters equipped with on-board destemming—not only because the sorting tool gives us a better quality product for our wineries, but it further challenges the hand-pick-only crowd to find a credible reason not to accept machine-har- vested fruit. Overcoming this bias will pay huge dividends into the future, as we reduce the labor requirement at harvest by at least a factor of eight to 10. We have been the first vineyard management company to deliver machine- picked fruit to many of the ultra-premium brands on the west side of Paso Robles and enjoy the shocked response when they see what appear to be MacroBins filled with pure blueberries. Some wineries are now even pay- ing a premium to machine harvest with a de- stemmer because of the quality enhancement, and it creates a value-add for our clients when trying to sell their fruit. While this has immedi- ate payback, the investment in this technology and its ability to overcome the objections by the hand-pick-only crowd is necessary, given where labor is going. Setting aside the looming problem of mandated wage increases over the near term in California, our labor force is sim- ply not growing or getting younger. TESTING FOR POOR PLANT MATERIALS A mong the offerings that Vineyard Professional Services provides for its clients is independent testing of nursery budwood. "Just like we weigh bundles of steel stakes to validate their construction, we like to test grapevines to find out if there are any defects," says VPS president Randy Heinzen. "With plants, there are more variables and possible contamination points, and unfortunately, we as an industry tolerated a high number of defects for many years. The blame for poor plant materials cuts both ways, as we vineyard owners generated huge demand while asking for lower prices without verifying the cleanliness of the product." Heinzen says the situation is improving, though. "It wasn't until deep DNA sequencing was applied to grapevines five or six years ago that we even learned to identify some underlying virus infections," he says. "I think the nursery industry in general has greatly improved their internal testing and controls, and we as buyers have stopped leaning on what has ultimately turned out to be the false promise of 'certified material.'" Hyground & People...Products...Knowledge... are registered trademarks of Helena Holding Company. Always read and follow directions.© 2018 Helena Holding Company. HyGround is the most advanced soil management program in the market. Through the use of highly efficient and cost effective smart sampling methods, HyGround provides an accurate picture of field variability by selecting the most ideal sampling locations. Contact your Helena representative for more information. K - Soil Test Farm: HyGround Demo Field: 47ac Area: 47.52 ac Season: 2016 Min: 36.13 ppm Avg: 62.87 ppm Max: 83.43 ppm Legend Field Boundary K - Soil Test ppm 36.1 - 44.3 (5.4 ac ) (11.4 %) 44.5 - 54 (7.7 ac ) (16.2 %) 54.1 - 63.8 (11.9 ac ) (25.0 %) 63.9 - 74 (9.2 ac ) (19.4 %) 74.1 - 83.4 (13.4 ac ) (28.1 %) m g: 62.87 ppm Max: 83.43 ppm Legend Field Boundary K S il EC - Soil Test Farm: HyGround Demo Field: 47ac Area: 47.52 ac Season: 2016 Min: 0.29 mS/meter Avg: 0.84 mS/meter Max: 1.22 mS/meter Legend Field Boundary EC - Soil Test mS/meter 0.3 - 0.5 (4.9 ac ) (10.4 %) 0.5 - 0.7 (6.4 ac ) (13.4 %) 0.7 - 0.8 (9.3 ac ) (19.6 %) 0.8 - 1 (13.8 ac ) (29.0 %) 1 - 1.2 (13.1 ac ) (27.6 %) pH - Soil Test Farm: HyGround Demo Field: 47ac Area: 47.52 ac Season: 2016 Min: 7.07 PH SCALE Avg: 7.66 PH SCALE Max: 8.36 PH SCALE Legend Field Boundary pH - Soil Test PH SCALE 7.1 - 7.4 (3.9 ac ) (8.2 %) 7.4 - 7.6 (15.6 ac ) (32.7 %) 7.6 - 7.8 (13.9 ac ) (29.3 %) 7.8 - 8 (8.8 ac ) (18.5 %) 8 - 8.4 (5.4 ac ) (11.3 %) Santa Maria Area Nathan Miller - 805.314.7778 Salinas Area Rebecca Kaupp – 831.214.2861 Central Valley Locations 559.261.9030