By Samuel Squire

Australia’s largest wine company, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) is utilising a host of artificial intelligence and data collection technologies to better, and more efficiently, manage and maintain its vineyards.

Treasury Wine Estates general manager – company vineyards Greg Pearce said the company is “embracing different technologies to help us operate more efficiently, sustainably, and improve the management of our vineyard productions”.

Pearce said the integration of new technologies has been achievable thanks to capable skilled hands.

“We’re combining traditional harvest data with AI by using The Yield’s platforms to provide information and predictions to make key production decisions such as when to irrigate, manipulate canopies and yield mitigate risk and harvest grapes,” said Pearce.

The Yield is an Australian agricultural technology company building scalable digital tech to transform food and farming practices.

The company’s technology combines hardware, data analytics and user-friendly apps that can be applied across the food chain to help increase yield, reduce waste, mitigate the risks and cost associated with bad weather and aid environmental sustainability.

“Through our partnerships with The Yield and the Bureau of Meteorology we are able to source climate modelling information on weather forecasts and the seasonal outlooks for all our Australian and New Zealand sites.

“This information allows us to react to the most likely weather conditions – short and long term – to maximise quality and mitigate risk.

“However, there’s no substitute for great talent and we are proud to have a strong team of talented people including our growers and viticulturists who all contribute to our premium wines.”

Pearce says TWE is also making use of irrigation and nutrition modelling, combining soil and plant-based sensors, historical climate data and forecasts, and satellite imagery as well as the observations and knowledge of their viticulturists to make more informed decisions in the vineyard.

To read how wine companies like TWE are benefitting from new tech in the vineyard, subscribe to the Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker for the February 2021 issue!

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