—by Ross Courtney
Automation proponents envision a day when sensors and AI-informed controls communicate via wireless technology in a feedback loop to irrigate a vineyard without human operators.
That day is still in the future. Though tools such as sensors and automated solenoid valves are commercially available, roadblocks stand in the way of widespread adoption for Washington viticulture.
But the industry needs to move that direction, said Keith Oliver, president of the Washington State Grape Society.
“Sure, it costs money to do this stuff, but we need to go that way now,” said Oliver as he moderated the grape society’s annual meeting in November in Grandview, where several presentations focused on sensor-based precision irrigation technology.
Oliver manages Olsen Bros. Ranches near Benton City, which uses soil moisture monitoring systems. Automation must play a larger role, he said, especially in the age of 40-hour workweeks — when it costs more money to send an irrigator to the farm after hours to turn water on or off.
Jake Schrader, U.S. Department of Agriculture precision viticulture researcher in Prosser, Washington, said that although sensors have improved, the hardware is just one piece of the management puzzle.
“It’s hard to make (sensors) effective immediately,” he said.
Before taking his new USDA position, Schrader managed the Smart Vineyard, a technology testing ground at Washington State University’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser. In 2024, a drought year, upstream water restrictions prevented the university from fully automating the vineyard’s irrigation system, he said.
Also, a vineyard may lack cellular service or another form of wireless communication for all the smart tools to communicate, he said. Some growers are trying LoRa networks. Short for long range, the approach enables sensors, smart valves and other tools to connect across long distances, up to 5 miles, but handle only small bits of data at a time.
There are also the practicalities of farming amid all that equipment. Leaves obscure sensors. Pruning crews accidentally cut wires. Tractors run over dataloggers.
Meanwhile, needs vary within a vineyard, Schrader said. Most commonly, growers irrigate an entire block the same way, even if data tells them different parts of the block need different levels of water because of soil or topography. Schrader plans to begin a new project this year looking for ways to manage variability, perhaps to the level of individually controlled emitters.
Overcoming hurdles
Wilbur-Ellis and Phytech are implementing sensor-based irrigation and overcoming some of these challenges, company representatives said at the meeting.
Christian Medeiros, water management specialist for Wilbur-Ellis, told growers they should build a team to manage the conversion to sensor-driven irrigation. One person, even if tech savvy, won’t be able to handle it alone, especially if that person is challenged to change the ways of seasoned veterans during busy times.
He also recommends growers set aside planning time early in the season to establish some goals for the year. Have the blocks’ historical data ready.
Change often requires physical improvements, such as new valves or drip emitters, to make sensors worth the investment. In some areas, growers he works with have had good luck with grants from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to support water-smart infrastructure improvements.
Commercial practicality is progressing rapidly, said Iftach Shalev Rosenbach of Phytech.
Phytec’s approach is built on years of data connecting dendrometer readings to the water needs of vines by variety.
Phytech has its own low radio frequency, registered with the U.S. government, that can send signals through canopies, he said. The sensors use the frequency to talk to a central gateway, which then connects via cell signal or Wi-Fi to the cloud. They have installed thousands of sensors in Washington in the past few years, he said.
Medeiros and Shalev Rosenbach both said the technology to completely automate the irrigation control based on sensor data is available. They use it in some experimental blocks.
But they don’t yet offer that for commercial growers, because trust is not widespread. Tools break, water sometimes is scarce, or insurance liability prevents implementation.
And both companies like building their business based on the assumption that, in the end, the growers know what’s best for their crops.
“But we’re getting there,” Medeiros said. “It’s baby steps.” •
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