Advisors review vineyard mechanization techniques Noting that machinery now exists “to do everything without touching a vine- yard,” University of California specialists have published a reviewproviding guide- lines for winegrape growers to make the best use of vineyardmechanization. mechanization beyond harvesting “can also reduce labor costs without affect- ing grape quality.” tices farmers mechanize. Mechanical pruning, for example, can save between 60% and 80% of employ- ment operation costs per acre, compared tomanual pruning alone.
Kurtural said there aremachines avail- able to manage canopies, including ma- chines for leaf removal, shoot thinning and trunk suckering. He noted that the machines are American made, devel- oped by researchers at the University of Arkansas and commercialized bymanu- facturers in Fresno andWoodland. The review, titled “Mechanization of Pruning, Canopy Management, and Harvest in Winegrape Vineyards” and co-authored by Matthew Fidelibus, viti- culture extension specialist at UC Davis, may be read at www.asevcatalyst.org. Act, alongwithensuring that any farmland takenout of productioncanonceagainbe- come productive if newwater sources or irrigation technologies are developed. What California farmers and ranchers really need, he said, is results. “Farmers can understand drought and what comesout of thesky,”Scheuringsaid. “Theyget that.What theycan’tunderstand is failure toplanthroughthese thingsanda failure to, evenmore importantly, execute on some of this.” (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
Kurtural has designed a “touchless” experimental vineyard at the UC Davis Oakville Station in the Napa Valley, to help farmers understand howmachines can help them cope with ongoing em- ployee shortages. Though machines reduce the need for seasonal manual labor, he said, they do not eliminate it. The degree of re- duction depends on growing region, grapevine type and the number of prac-
An experiment in the San Joaquin Valley, wheremore thanhalf of California winegrapes grow, also showedusingme- chanical canopymanagement onmerlot grapes resulted in twice the amount of color, the university reported. The more color, or higher anthocyanin concentra- tions, the better the quality, which can significantly improvewinegrape returns.
In announcing publication of the re- view, UC Davis said farmers who face rising employment costs and shortages of employees have turned increasingly to machines for pruning, canopy manage- ment and harvesting. “But how well these practices are exe- cuted can substantially affect yield and quality,” the university said. The review, published in theAmerican Society for Enology and Viticulture jour- nal Catalyst, provides guidance on using machines for winter pruning, canopy management and harvesting, as well as how to design a vineyard for machines before planting. Videos accompany- ing the online review show the oper- ation of different types of machinery and practices. About 90% of the winegrapes crushed in the U.S. are mechanically harvested, UCDavis said, adding that previous stud- ies have found about a 50% saving in em- ployment costs from using machines to harvest instead of hand harvesting. Kaan Kurtural, professor of viticul- ture and enology and extension spe- cialist at UC Davis, said using vineyard
Impact Continued from Page 6
Changing hydrology, environmental concerns and aging infrastructure point to a need for more investment “in a lot of places to reach that goal of resilience that we talk about somuch now,” he added. The Statewide Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program, administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, “has been historically over- subscribed,” Scheuring told the board. “More dollars are needed for that, and a focus on smaller growers.” He also recommendedadditional tech- nical assistance for implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management
ChrisScheuringsaidhistravelselsewherein theU.S.haveunderscoredforhim“justhow existential water is for us in the American West andCalifornia inparticular.” “For all of our sophistication and plan- ning and investment, and in spite of the plenty that we bring to the plates of the stateand thenation—theworld—in terms ofproduceandfoodandfiber, farmingand ranching in California remains a fraught business,” Scheuring said. “Years like this remindus all howclose to theedgewe can be as farmers and ranchers.”
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16 Ag Alert June 9, 2021
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