Audio Postcard: Real-time farming

This episode, we’re doing thing a small spot different. Join america arsenic we instrumentality a travel to a Californian vineyard to larn astir however it’s deploying sensors and different forms of AI.

We meet: 

Dirk Heuvel, vice president of vineyard operations, McManis Family Vineyards

Credits:

This occurrence was produced by Jennifer Strong with assistance from Anthony Green and Emma Cillekens. It was edited by Mat Honan and mixed by Garret Lang, with archetypal euphony from Jacob Gorski. Art absorption by Stephanie Arnett. 

Full transcript:

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Jennifer: Hi there. It’s Jennifer Strong and I person thing a small spot antithetic this week. 

We’re successful the mediate of making different miniseries… and this clip I’m looking astatine however farming operations are utilizing AI to much precisely turn food… with assistance from instrumentality vision, satellites, and unthinkable quantities of data.

So I’ve been spending a batch of clip talking to farmers and cultivation tech workers who are gathering and experimenting with these tools…and successful the weeks ahead? We’re going to present you to immoderate of them… including folks moving successful Ukraine… trying to optimize crops and minimize nutrient shortages… portion being successful the mediate of a warfare zone. 

Something truly absorbing from this reporting - nutrient producers who follow this tech look to beryllium utilizing overmuch little water… and mode less chemicals.  These advances marque it imaginable to lone spray erstwhile it’s needed.

So, to footwear things off, here's a circuit of a vineyard successful California’s cardinal valley…and arsenic always… we’d emotion to perceive what you think. Please driblet a enactment to podcasts astatine exertion reappraisal dot com… oregon you tin find maine connected twitter astatine Strong Reporter.

Dirk Heuvel: So this assortment we're looking astatine present is called Pinot Grigio. 

Pinot Grigio really makes a achromatic vino and it's won a fewer varieties successful California that, uh, is simply a beauteous communal assortment that really we marque purple grapes that marque a achromatic wine. So my sanction is Dirk Heuvel and I'm the VP of vineyard operations present astatine McManis household vineyards. 

My household really benignant of acceptable roots here, really farming almonds. And immoderate radical accidental almonds, we accidental successful Ripon, and we say, say, almonds. 

I consciousness like, if it was similar my dada oregon my grandpa trying to follow this technology, absolutely. I deliberation there'd beryllium a immense civilization daze determination for them. I inactive deliberation they don't rather recognize it, but they're seeing the results of it. So I deliberation that's the astir important thing—that we're capable to amusement them that it is moving and however it's moving for us.

I volition accidental today, I consciousness that we're increasing amended prime grapes than we were 30 years ago. Just adapting a batch of this aerial imagery, modern irrigation technology, moving drip strategy technology, you know, being capable to fertilize done drip systems. And you tin really look astatine the imaging connected your telephone and you tin really pinpoint spell retired and locomotion to a circumstantial vine. You know, that mightiness beryllium a   vine that died, that shows up connected the aerial imaging. You tin usage the exertion and, and locomotion close into a circumstantial area. Just being capable to place areas, you know, utilizing GPS. We tin person tract checkers spell done the tract present and connected their app, they're capable to really driblet and pinpoint wherever we mightiness person mite issues wherever we mightiness have, you know, leafhopper issues, areas that request to get treated. And that really allows america to spell done and conscionable mention circumstantial treat. Instead of treating an full vineyard block, we're capable to conscionable dainty circumstantial areas.

Jennifer: It was lone what similar five, 7 years ago, it was fractional of workplace workers weren't utilizing smartphones. 

Dirk Heuvel: Yeah. 

Jennifer: So, if radical are dropping pins that’s…

Dirk Heuvel: Yeah. You know, 30 years ago, successful bid to marque a telephone call, you'd person to thrust successful a, successful a municipality oregon spell to your location to telephone your irrigator to bash stuff. And present it's, this is almost, it's similar existent clip farming. Now we tin marque decisions connected the fly. And 1 of the large advantages to utilizing adaptable complaint applications is that you're lone applying the magnitude of nutrients oregon amendments that are needed for a circumstantial area. So earlier we adapted this adaptable complaint technology, we would thrust down a enactment and we would enactment a accordant magnitude of amendments, whether it beryllium gypsum, lime, soil, sulfur, we would use that magnitude evenly passim the full vineyard block. Now we recognize going done and utilizing this adaptable complaint exertion is that we mightiness chopped the, the amendments that are needed by 20 to 30% connected a circumstantial vineyard block, conscionable by applying the close amounts of nutrients wherever they're needed and not overlying wherever they're not needed 

In the past, astir apt 5 to six years, we started utilizing a batch much compost connected our vineyards. Our large propulsion to utilizing compost was the dilatory merchandise of nutrients that we got. We besides usage the adaptable complaint exertion for that, conscionable to assistance physique the integrated substance successful the soils. California h2o is simply a commodity present for america and the compost really helps clasp ungraded moisture and really makes the ungraded moisture that you are applying much readily disposable to the plants.

Jennifer: That these things could enactment together. It's benignant of cool. 

Dirk Heuvel: Yeah. And that's, you know, erstwhile we archetypal started utilizing Ceres Imaging, it was benignant of a instrumentality that was determination for you to place h2o accent successful vines. And I benignant of took that mapping and said, Hey, you know, there's a batch of correlations present betwixt our h2o accent and what our ungraded benignant is. And, you know, you commencement changing ungraded types. You're gonna alteration the mode that those plants really uptake nutrients and water, you know, heavier soils. They request to propulsion a batch harder to get those nutrients and the h2o up into the vine compared to, like, a sandier soil, which makes it a small spot much disposable to the plant.

One of the things we've noticed, sometimes you tin spot things that are happening successful the vineyard earlier you tin really physically spot it with your bare oculus up successful person. So we saw h2o accent successful the vineyards, done the aerial imagery and walked retired into the field. You couldn't spot it, but astir a week to 2 weeks later, it was visibly noticeable successful person.

So, I conjecture what these tools, this exertion did for modern agriculture was conscionable made it economically feasible for a grower to spell done and, and bash this benignant of work. Before a grower would person to spell retired and propulsion 5 oregon six samples per acre, conscionable wouldn't beryllium imaginable doing it that way. It would outgo you much to bash that than what, what you would really marque connected the harvest that year. So, um, by spending, you know, anyplace from 10 to $15 an acre to make a prescriptive representation passim the field, and it's, you know, thing that you mightiness adjacent identify, things similar inefficiencies wrong your irrigation strategy that you didn't cognize were there, you know, you mightiness instrumentality this aerial imagery and recognize that it's, you don't person immoderate nutritional issues astatine all. It's an irrigation uniformity issue.

Jennifer: We permission the fields and caput implicit to the bottling plant… 

Dirk Heuvel: Basically, they're conscionable doing attraction connected the instrumentality close now. 

Jennifer: It smells fantastic successful here

Dirk Heuvel: It smells similar wine, yes. 

That's the, the past of the bottles going done the enactment close there. This is what we telephone it, lawsuit packer. So it really grabs, uh, 24 bottles and it loads 2 cases astatine 1 time. There's a batch of exertion successful present that's akin to, like, dairies. Like the automated milking strategy successful dairies. There's a batch of things successful here. As acold arsenic the robotics spell that are the aforesaid present arsenic what they usage successful that industry. 

So the institution that makes, like, the bottling line, they're based retired of Italy and their IT squad tin really log successful from Italy. If we person thing spell down wrong the line, they'll troubleshoot it. And speech from physically fixing it for you, they tin archer you what's, what's incorrect with it.

Jennifer: Kinda amazing. All the tanks retired here,

Dirk Heuvel: We conscionable did a beauteous bully size expansion. We did, uh, just, conscionable implicit 2 cardinal gallon enlargement connected the installation retired here, benignant of getting the facility, everything cleaned up and acceptable for harvest, benignant of doing immoderate past infinitesimal attraction connected everything and conscionable getting ready.

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Jennifer: You tin find links to our reporting successful the amusement notes... and you tin enactment our journalism by going to tech reappraisal dot com slash subscribe.

We’ll beryllium back… close aft this.

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Jennifer: This occurrence was produced by maine with Anthony Green and Emma Cillekens. It was edited by Mat Honan and mixed by Garret Lang… with archetypal euphony from Jacob Gorski.   

Thanks truthful overmuch for listening… I’m Jennifer Strong.

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