Page 40 - Grapevine March-April 2020

Around The Vineyard

Bevill has already seen this in action. By applying
the principles of trellis placement and design with
well-planned canopy management, the caber-
net sauvignon vineyards have shown a dramatic
decrease in farming costs associated with labor.

“Only one man is needed per ten acres here in
Sonoma County,” said Bevill. “That figure match-
es what we believe is necessary, and that’s also
what we have and use. Currently, only about 50%
of farms are mechanically harvested. Many older
ones can’t take advantage of mechanized farming
because of how they were originally planned. Some
leafing and mechanical harvesting can be done, but
much of the canopy management has to be done
by hand. Some older vineyards with their original
planted vine systems are still entirely managed
using hand labor. We are seeing a lot of these
vineyards now being pulled out and replanted to
use a flat-faced trellis system more conducive to
mechanical farming.”

Bevill told The Grapevine Magazine that mecha-
nized farming will likely be the focus for the fore-
seeable future. There is nothing new on the hori-
zon regarding the mechanical aspect of agriculture.
All the advancements are within farming technol-
ogy, things like devices to better detect the best
times and amounts for irrigation, and increased
uses for drone mapping. The yields and perfor-
mance of high wire trellises are showing promise,
but it will be another 10 years before any data can
be confidently identified as reliable.

“Overall, farming knowledge is constantly increas-
ing, and as a vineyard management company, we
are always looking at new and better planting stan-
dards and goals. They’re all tied into making mech-
anized farming as friendly as possible,” said Bevill.
“Acquiring and using machinery to do the work is
certainly the way of the future. It’s much cheaper
and more reliable than hand labor, and let’s face it,
it’s there when you need it.”

Seeing Each Vineyard As
A Unique Environment

“I literally have a different protocol for every vine-
yard depending on the winemaker’s desires for his

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