|
Geographic Information Technology
and the Finger Lakes Wine Industry
Peter
A. Ensminger, PhD
GeoManagement Associates
256 Greenwood Place
Syracuse, NY 13210
ensmingr@npac.syr.edu
This document presents results of an investigation on the present
use of remote sensing and other geographic information technology
(GIT) in the wine industry and provides suggestions for the potential
application of GIT in the Finger Lakes wine industry.
In particular, this report consists of summaries of current GIT
applications in California and New York wineries, and lists references
and web sites for these topics. This is followed by a brief summary
of grape diseases, whose control has motivated development of vineyard
GIT in California. The report concludes with a list of suggestions
for potential GIT applications in Finger Lakes wineries, based on
discussions with vineyard owners and managers and Cornell University
researchers and extension specialists.
Contents
GIT in California Wineries
GIT in Finger Lakes Wineries
Grape Diseases
Potential Application of GIT in Finger
Lakes Wineries
GIT in California Wineries
The importance of the wine industry to the Californian economy
has spurred development of GIT among California's grape growers.
Investigators at the NASA Ames Research Center and their collaborators,
grape growers and wineries, and private companies are at the forefront
in application of GIT to the California wine industry.
The NASA projects are funded by the Applications Outreach Division
of the Office of Earth Science at the NASA Ames Research Center.
Their goal is to develop GIS tools for vineyard management.
This work has progressed as three sequential projects:
- GRAPES (Grapevine Remote-sensing Analysis of Phylloxera Early
Stress), which ran from 1993-95.
- CRUSH (Canopy Remote-sensing for Uniformly Segmented Harvest),
which ran in 1997.
- VINTAGE (Viticultural Integration of NASA Technologies for Assessment
of the Grapevine Environment), which will run from 1999-2002.
Grape diseases are a major problem in many California vineyards.
GRAPES was an initial project of the NASA Ames Research Center and
collaborators in the Napa Valley.
This project used remotely sensed visible and near-IR data of 2-3
meter resolution to provide information about phylloxera infestation
(see "Grape Diseases", below) and to forecast phylloxera spread.
Areas heavily infested with phylloxera were easily detected by the
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI = [NIR-Red])/[NIR+Red]),
a measure of leaf chlorophyll that ranges from "0" for bare soil
to "1" for a dense green canopy. Such data may be useful to growers
who need to schedule replacement of phylloxera-infested regions
of vineyards. However, the data did not allow determination of "pre-visual"
phylloxera stress.
CRUSH was a subsequent project of the NASA Ames Research Center
and collaborators. They obtained multispectral 2-meter resolution
aerial photography of a 3 hectare region of Chardonnay grapes
in Robert Mondavi's Carneros vineyard and used this data to calculate
a map of the NDVI to show regions of low, intermediate, and high
grape plant vigor (health). The remotely
sensed data agreed well with the field sampled data and with important
fruit characteristics. Wines produced from regions of low and moderate
vigor were of "Reserve" quality. This indicates that GIT may be
used to guide segregated harvests and production of "Reserve" wines.
Several California-based private firms are providing GIT services
to grape growers. For example, Terra Spase Vineyard Consulting,
a Napa-based GIS consulting firm, has developed "Terrior", soil
mapping software that guides growers in the planting of different
rootstocks. They also use aerial imaging
to provide information about phylloxera infestation and, in conjunction
automated weather stations, provide information about conditions
that could lead to mildew infestations (see "Grape Diseases",
below).
Vestra Resources, Crop Image, and Crop Care Associates provide
similar services. Many of the largest California wineries are currently
using such technology, including Kendall-Jackson, E&J Gallo,
Robert Mondavi, Beringer's, and Saintsbury.
References
- Anonymous, 1997, GRAPES
publications.
- Anonymous, 1998, GIS
improves life on the Gordon family ranch.
- Armstrong, R. et al., 1999, Grapevine
remote sensing analysis of Phylloxera early stress (GRAPES) project.
- Cunningham, C.J., 1999, Mapping
Mondavi Vineyards. FarmTech
- Eisenberg, A., 1998, A pleasing bouquet, a hint of silicon.
New York Times December 31, pp. G1, G6.
- Franson, P., 1998, Terra
Spase creates its place in viticulture. Wine Business Monthly.
- Gordon, D.A., 1997, Vineyard and winery management: A case study
in GIS implementation. ESRI Users Conference.
- Harvell, E., 1996, Pinpointing
information in your vineyard. Wine Business Monthly
- Johnson, L.F. et al., 1996, Airborne imaging aids vineyard canopy
evaluation. California Agriculture 50(4), 14-18.
- Johnson, L.F. Et al., 1998, Of
pixels and palates: Can geospatial technologies help produce a
better wine? Proceedings, 1st International Conference
of Geospatial Information in Agriculture and Forestry.
- Johnson, L.F., 1999, Response of grape leaf spectra to Phylloxera
infestation. NASA/CR-1999-208765.
- Johnson, L.F., 1999, Projects,
Lee Johnson: VINTAGE - Viticultural Integration of
NASA Technologies for Assessment of the Grapevine Environment,
1999-2002; CRUSH - Canopy Remote-sensing for Uniformly
Segmented Harvest, 1997; GRAPES - Grapevine Remote-sensing
Analysis of Phylloxera Early Stress.
- Lobitz, B. et al., 1997, Grapevine remote sensing analysis of
Phylloxera early stress (GRAPES): Remote sensing analysis summary.
NASA Technical Memorandum 112218.
- Orans, R., 1999, Mapping
crop vigor with digital imagery.
- Penn, C., 1999,
Grape growers gravitating toward space age technologies. Wine
Business Monthly.
- Sawyer, A., 1997,
Aerial mapping comes into its own. Wine Business Monthly.
GIT in Finger Lakes Wineries
New York state has four principal grape growing regions: Lake Erie,
with ~20,000 acres under cultivation and 8 wineries; Finger Lakes,
with ~10,000 acres and 58 wineries; Hudson Valley, with ~500 acres
and 28 wineries, and Long Island, with ~1500 acres and 24 wineries.
About 1/3 of New York grapes are used in wine and the rest (mainly
from the Lake Erie region) are used for grape juice or fresh fruit.
Most Finger Lakes grapes are used for wine. Finger Lakes
wineries are concentrated around Cayuga, Seneca, and Keuka Lakes.
Researchers and others associated with Cornell University (Geneva)
support the wine and grape industry, which is responsible for over
$500 million in annual gross sales and $85 million in annual state
and local revenues. Since Finger Lakes land is relatively
inexpensive, more wineries will be established there in the coming
years and this has motivated the search for new Finger Lakes vineyard
sites.
Dr. Robert Pool of Cornell University (Geneva) is developing a
geographic approach to vineyard site selection in the Finger Lakes
region based on growing season length, hours of sunlight, presence
of soil minerals, supply of water, and retention of excessive moisture.
The stresses imposed by climate and pathogens are somewhat different
in the Finger Lakes and California vineyards. Cold temperatures
during the winter, spring, and autumn appear to be the main limiting
factor in the Finger Lakes region. Soil type, which shows some variation
in the Finger Lakes region, can limit the species or varieties of
grape that can be grown. Native American grapes grow
best in the southern Finger Lakes, where the bedrock is mainly acidic
shale; however, vinifera cultivars grow best in the northern Finger
lakes, where the bedrock is alkaline limestone.
Dr.'s Roger Magarey, Robert Seem, and Stephen DeGloria have applied
GIS to Finger Lakes vineyard site selection. Initially, they used
1 km maps of weather, soil, land use, and other factors.
A naive interpretation of these low resolution maps indicates that
the Finger Lakes and Lake Erie regions are unable to support grape
cultivation! Apparently, low resolution maps are unable to consider
microclimates associated with the topography and lake effects of
these two regions. These researchers are currently attempting to
improve the resolution of their climate maps by recording temperature
transects along certain Finger Lakes regions.
References
- Anonymous, 1999, Finger
Lakes Wine Trails Map.
- Magarey, R. et al., 1998, Vineyard
site selection in New York state.
- Martinson, T., 1999, Digital soil maps and aerial vineyard images
in the Finger Lakes. Unpublished paper.
- McCandless, L., 1999, Grape
prospecting by the map. New York State Agricultural Experiment
Station Press Release.
- McCandless, L., 1998, Cornell
uncorks the grape team. New York State Agricultural Experiment
Station Press Release.
- New York Wine and Grape Foundation, 1999, Booklet
and Web site.
- Pool, 1999, Factors
affecting vineyard site suitability in cold climates such as found
in New York state.
- Pool, B., 1999, Grape
production in New York. Is there Terroir in New York?
- Seem, R. & Magarey, R., 1999, Notes from interview, August
26, 1999, Cornell University, Geneva, NY.
Grape Diseases
Numerous pests such as insects, mites, nematodes, fungi, and bacteria
can reduce the productivity of vineyards and cause significant loss
of revenue. The NASA Ames Research Center (see "GIT in California
Wineries", above) has used remote sensing images and GIT to monitor
infestation by grape phylloxera, a small aphid-like insect that
is a significant pest in California vineyards. This pest is not
as significant in the Finger Lakes. Finger Lakes grape plants, which
are typically exposed to high humidity, are more often affected
by fungal diseases such as powdery mildew and downy mildew.
Phylloxera. Grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifolia)
is a significant pest in California vineyards, in particular those
in the Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, and Monterey counties.
This organism is a plant louse (aphid-like insect) that feeds on
the roots of grape plants, causing them to swell, turn yellow, and
die. The dead root tissue that results reduces plant growth and
grape production. Root-feeding adult phylloxera are all females,
very small (less than 1 mm long and 0.5 mm wide), and difficult
to detect in the field. Each female lays up to 400 eggs at a time
and 3-5 generations per year can occur in California vineyards.
Thus, massive phylloxera outbreaks can occur suddenly and rapidly.
The only effective control measure is removal of infested plants
and replacement with resistant rootstock, a time-consuming and very
expensive procedure.
Powdery and downy mildew. Powdery mildew (Uncinula necator)
and downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) are pathogenic
fungi that infect the leaves, stems, and fruits of grape plants.
These pathogens are particularly significant when the temperature
and humidity are high. They are relatively common in the Finger
Lakes region, where spring and summer humidity is typically high.
They can also be a problem in California, but are less common in
grape-growing regions where spring and summer rainfall is light.
In the summer of 1999, mildew infection of Finger Lakes vineyards
was relatively minor because of the low rainfall.
In order to improve control of grape mildews, the University of
California Integrated Pest Management Program funded establishment
of a network of weather stations in Kern, Napa, and Sonoma counties.
These stations collected data and automatically sent it to a central
location where software calculated a "mildew index", a measure of
the threat of disease outbreak based on temperature and leaf wetness.
Terra Spase Vineyard Consulting (see "GIT in California Wineries"
above) provides its client wineries with "mildew index" data in
graphical or tabular form and also provides regional "mildew index"
maps on a daily basis. These maps depict disease pressure
in an easily understood graphical format and guide fungicide application.
These data allow growers to reduce the number of fungicide applications
during a season, while providing equal or better control of mildew
outbreaks.
References
- California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project, 1997,
UC Pest
Management Guidelines - Grape Phylloxera.
- California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project, 1997,
UC Pest
Management Guidelines - Grape Powdery Mildew.
- California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project, 1998,
UC Pest
Management Guidelines - Grape Downy Mildew.
- Gubler, W.D. et al., 1999, Control
of Powdery Mildew Using the UC Davis Powdery Mildew Risk Index.
Plant Pathology On-line, American Phyopathological Society.
Potential Application of GIT in Finger Lakes
Wineries
A list of potential applications of GIT to Finger Lakes wineries
is given below, based on this investigation, discussions with vineyard
owners and managers, and discussions with Cornell University researchers
and extension specialists. Most of these ideas
are undeveloped at this stage, but are listed here to motivate discussion
among interested parties at a Finger Lakes/GIT workshop. Others
may be able to discuss these issues from an economic development/public
policy perspective.
- Provide digital base maps. High-resolution (1 m)
panchromatic (B&W) digital base maps would be useful to all
growers, who could use this information to develop map-based record-keeping
systems for inventory of pesticide application (necessary for
government reports), monitor labor cost per vineyard block or
per vine, and ultimately to geo-reference every vine.
- Provide high-resolution maps on the internet. High-resolution
climate maps, to be updated daily and posted on the Internet,
of disease pressure (esp. mildew), degree days, and other factors
could be used to mitigate damage and guide harvest schedules.
Such information could be provided via a network of ground-based
weather stations to construct "mildew index" maps, as has been
done in California (see "Grape Diseases", above). In addition,
Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), to be provided by the Department
of Environmental Conservation (DEC) or others, and detailed soil
maps would be useful for site selection and other applications.
- Develop segregated harvesting. High resolution (1 m)
multispectral images, especially of bands 3 (Red) and 4 (Near-Infrared),
could be used to guide segregated harvesting, as has been done
in California (see "GIT in California Wineries", above). Such
an application would be particularly suitable for Pinot Noir grapes,
since production of "Reserve" quality Pinot Noir wines could command
premium prices.
References
- Pool, R. & Martinson, T., 1999, Notes from interview, September
22, 1999, Cornell-Geneva.
- Seem, R. & Magarey, R., 1999, Notes from interview, August
26, 1999, Cornell-Geneva.
- Madill, B., 1999, Notes from interview, December 4, 1999, Sheldrake
Point Winery.
- Miscellaneous Wineries, 1999, Notes from telephone conversations
with Finger Lakes grape growers.
|
      |
