The effects of climate change do not stop at the borders of vineyards. Unsteady rainfall affects the yield and the quality of the grapes and the wine. Thus, the diverse needs of different types of grapes demand the utilization of irrigation systems. In order to be able to meaningfully deploy such systems, the relevant climatic and phenological influence factors (e.g. soil humidity and leaf temperature) need to be measured continuously.
The Linz Center of Mechatronics (LCM) makes a contribution to deal with this issue within the EU-funded project “Transfarm 4.0”. A customized sensor system will observe the relevant influence factors and wirelessly transfer the respective data to a FIWARE-based data acquisition Cloud for storage and further processing. In cooperation with the Hungarian Szent István University, the FIWARE-system will be installed, activated and tested in a model-vineyard.
Winegrowers will save lots of time by keeping track of the climatic and growth-related conditions in their wineyards and by taking required actions when indicated. As a result, the system facilitates an increase of the yield, and may also allow for the reduction or even prevention of the use of chemicals.
Hence, latest technology not only enables ecological and sustainable winegrowing, but also leads to a stable and affordable quality and a reliable tender, for the benefit of the wine lovers.
