By In the third and final installment of the precision viticulture series I wrote for the Napa Valley Wine Academy, I look at how wineries are managing their water use for maximum efficiency:
In this final article in our three-part series, we’ll look at ways grape growers are using technology to be as effective as possible with their water use in the face of drought and a changing climate.
Water is a foundational element of crop production. Without access to water, plants can’t survive. As water has become scarcer in the western United States, home to much of America’s wine grape production, grape growers (and other farmers) are increasingly being asked to use less, and there’s no end in sight to the dry conditions.
As previously discussed in our articles on land and air, precision viticulture technologies can help growers make data-driven decisions about vineyard soils, vine health, disease mitigation, and more, and they can also help with water management. In this final article in our three-part series, we’ll look at ways grape growers are using technology to be as effective as possible with their water use in the face of drought and a changing climate.
But first, a quick science lesson. As a grape-growing season progresses and temperatures rise, water evaporates more quickly out of the soil, and vines also use more water to stay cool and photosynthesize nutrients. Vine leaves have tiny pores on their undersides, called stomata, which normally release water in a process known as transpiration. Think of it as the way a vine breathes. The measurement of the amount of water being lost through the soil and the vine is known as evapotranspiration (evaporation + transpiration).
Noelle Hale 