By Laurie Wachter
In an era of water scarcity, new water use monitoring requirements and labor shortages, automated irrigation has become a must, particularly in California’s drought-prone Wine Country.
Existing automation solutions, however, fall short of farmers’ needs and require a significant investment that is too expensive for vineyard operations without substantial budgets and profit margins.
The benefits of automated irrigation are well known: reduced water costs and waste, time savings for the workforce and improved yield and quality. Yet many farmers continue to irrigate manually because most existing automation systems focus on valve control, so farmers are still sending workers out to check for leaks and breaks.
“I grew up on a vineyard in Niagara, Canada’s largest wine region,” says Verdi CTO Roman Kozak. He and co-founder and CEO Arthur Chen “have spent the last four years talking with farmers and walking their farms. We saw how many problems they face and knew we could lighten that load by making automation more affordable.”
Automation for all
The duo was determined to make irrigation automation accessible to all growers, regardless of size, by using the latest technology while keeping it affordable and simple enough for farmers to install themselves.
Verdi’s ultra-low power and wireless Verdi Block Controller automates five critical jobs so farmers can execute them quickly and seamlessly:
- View soil moisture and environmental data;
- Create data-informed schedules;
- Control valves and pumps;
- Detect leaks and breaks; and
- Keep an accurate water record.
Verdi intentionally designed its wireless controller without over-engineering or complexity to make it user-friendly for farmers who don’t yet have automation systems for controlling and monitoring irrigation. Unlike popular automation systems today, the Verdi Block Controller’s use of modern low-power technology allows for a compact integrated device with fewer components. It doesn’t need buried wires or the large gateway towers, external solar panels and antennas relied on by other systems.
Operating in the Vineyard
Verdi’s controller works with grapes, berries and other crops at Gallo, The Wonderful Company and numerous wineries in North America, including Realm Cellars in Napa and Arterra Wines, one of the largest wine producers in Canada.
“Verdi is everything we need in one system for irrigation,” says Mike Watson, senior viticulturist at Arterra Wines Canada. “Automated irrigation control, environmental sensor data and irrigation verification. We are able to schedule our irrigations according to the moisture content in the soil, and if we have a line break or an inaccurate irrigation, we receive an alert.”
Winemaker Matthew Fortuna at 50th Parallel Estate Winery in Lake County, B.C., adds, “Before Verdi, I would spend up to four hours per day turning on valves, turning on pumps, ensuring everything was working on our 50-acre vineyard. Now I can remotely plan and execute my irrigations within 15 or 20 minutes, which has really freed me up to do bigger and better things on our site.”
The Verdi team is now working on a distribution system that will let farmers purchase Verdi in a store and set it up in the vineyard themselves.
Another game changer for the wine industry.
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Laurie Wachter
Laurie Wachter is a leader in analytics, consumer behavior and direct-to-consumer marketing, having worked with companies such as Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, Catalina Marketing and Circana. Based in Northern California’s Wine Country, she writes about the business of food, wine and beverages for a global client base.
