Page 62 - Grapevine July-Aug 2020

Around The Vineyard
involved in drone technology that is too great for
many small and mid-sized vineyards to invest in.
Regardless of a vineyard’s size or budget, there
will be a learning curve and training required to
effectively operate drones as a normal course of
business.
It is possible that drone technology may alter how
insurance companies price landholders and pool
their risk. It’s also a possibility that drones could
reshape how traders buy and sell commodities
futures. There are still many questions about how
drones will affect the wine industry in big-picture
terms, which is why we connected with a few tech
leaders to get an insider’s perspective.
Brad Anderson of Yamaha Motor Corporation
shared with us that one challenge facing drone
technology in vineyards today is proof of concept.
He said, “Drone technology offers a great deal of
potential, but it must deliver on the efficiencies
they can bring to vineyards. Drones are a new tool
in vineyards, and we must work closely with farm-
ers to identify and meet the needs they have to
improve overall efficiencies.”
Hawk Aerial’s Kevin J. Gould told us, “Drone tech-
nology is emerging rapidly in many sectors, and
vineyard management is certainly one of them.”
He went on to explain, “Flying at low altitudes with
incredibly capable sensors, drones are now able
to obtain images many times more accurate and
detailed than airplanes or satellites. Until now, the
biggest problem has been the capital cost, over-
head and personal bandwidth required to purchase
and operate a drone. At Hawk Aerial, vineyard
owners can purchase a vineyard-specific SkySquirrel data-driven agriculture and a movement towards
Technologies Aqweo drone system through us. Or
they can use our soup-to-nuts professional drone
flight and data services, relieving them of any
involvement in data acquisition and processing.”
In regards to the cost, we asked Gould if he could
provide an estimate of how much an investment
in drone technology would cost the average U.S.
vineyard. He started by telling us that some manu-
facturers are advertising agriculture drone systems
for as little as $1,500, and that some map providers
are using modified consumer cameras and generic
Page 60 The Grapevine • July - August 2020
Grapevine Main Pages GV070820_Layout 1-1 .indd 60
map processing algorithms to assemble generic
NDVI maps.
However, he went on to explain, “But neither of
these simplistic approaches are sufficient to pro-
vide vineyard vigor information accurate enough
to assist vineyard managers and viticulturists in
making critical operational decisions. The drone,
the camera, and the processing algorithms all need
to be vineyard-specific and backed by scientific
data. To obtain the quality of maps needed to drive
improvements of 5% - 15% (or more) in annual
wine grape crops valued at $4,000 - $40,000 per
acre, growers should budget $60 - $120 annually
per acre for advanced, professional vineyard drone
flight services, or $29,000 if they choose to pur-
chase and operate the vineyard-specific drone sys-
tem themselves.”
Yamaha’s Brad Anderson told us that at this time,
Yamaha is only offering a spray service and not
selling its units. “A vineyard owner or management
company pays on a per-application (spray) basis,”
he said. “Therefore, there is no upfront cost for the
use of our units.”
Drone Expansion for the Future
With modern advances in technology, drones
are no longer a far-fetched solution for common
vineyard issues. However, it is not enough to sim-
ply collect drone data, and vineyards must fully
understand the potential, risks, and applications of
drones.
But ultimately, drones are part of a larger trend of
growing more with automation than manual labor.
They hold great promise to irrigate less, use fewer
pesticides, reduce chemicals, produce more, and
ultimately create better wine. After all, that’s
what it is all about, and so frankly, the potential of
drones has become too promising to ignore.
877-892-5332
6/18/20 4:48 PM