It’s generally believed that farmers are slow to adopt new technology. Yet, while this adage may be true for more expensive and untested innovations, when a new technology is practical, affordable and can prove its value and reliability, farmers will indeed set aside their innate caution and readily invest.
Tyler Klick is a case in point. As the viticulturist and a co-owner of Redwood Empire Vineyard Management in Geyserville, CA, he decided to try an innovative smart irrigation technology developed by Lumo. Klick first installed Lumo smart valves on a few client vineyards last season. After seeing how they helped increase labor efficiency, reduce wasted water, and improve clients’ crop outcomes, he rolled it out to more than a dozen vineyards his company manages. “I’d love to get to a point where all of our clients have it installed,” says Klick.
Lumo smart valves also help West Coast viticulturists adjust to changing weather patterns, which have brought triple-digit heat waves to Californian vineyards. By reducing pump capacity and labor constraints, Lumo enables growers to rapidly respond to heat events. Vineyard teams can open and close valves from their mobile devices or schedule the valves to open at night automatically.
Another Lumo customer took advantage of that automation capability to save on labor and energy costs. After installing Lumo smart valves in two blocks in 2023, this season Wente Vineyards deployed them across 100 acres on their Ernest ranch. Their goal was to automate irrigation cycles to run during non-peak hours, allowing them to take advantage of lower energy rates.
Wente’s Viticulture Manager, Hannah Lindner, says, “All our valves were manual before, and we had to send irrigation teams out to open and close each valve at the beginning and end of the day — a continuous job. With the Lumo smart valves, we have this micro-control, and we have confidence in the valves’ ability to give us the quality we want from the vineyard.” Lindner also knows that if a leak occurs while everyone is sleeping, the Lumo system will send an alert.
Lumo’s founder and CEO, Devon Wright, explains that “Lumo gives the farmer confidence. You can’t have reliable automation without accountability. A system that opens and closes valves doesn’t meet the automation goal. A farmer needs to be confident that the right amount of water comes out without having to pay people to go make sure the pump is on and there are no leaks.”
These are money-saving assists for farmers, but Lumo goes far beyond turning water on and off automatically. It enhances their visibility into irrigation issues that can be difficult to detect by eye. For example, determining how much water the system is emitting or whether filters are clogged. Farmers can use Lumo’s software to track flow rates on their mobile devices, making it easy to see if they dip below expectation. If they do, a team member can go out to flush the filters or resolve any other problems needed to return the performance to the desired rate. Relying solely on in-person oversight in the field might have delayed bringing a similar issue to light for days, resulting in the crop being underwatered. Other irrigation strategies include scheduling repeated irrigation patterns, such as half-hour on and half-hour off, for growers with sandier soil or hardpan so that no water is wasted.
In addition to increased labor, energy and water efficiency, growers like Lindner and Klick find that adopting Lumo’s more precise tracking of irrigation volumes improves yield and quality measures. At the same time, the data it collects lets them learn from each season and dial in their precision.
Installing Lumo smart valves takes as little as one-tenth of the time needed for other systems since there’s no need to trench in wires. It’s also three to five times more affordable than trying to piece together solenoid valves, sensors, telemetry units and software.
Lumo’s success in making precision irrigation easier to execute than ever for its customers has led to rapid expansion in the Livermore, Lodi, Napa and Sonoma County regions, establishing a solid client base that is, in turn, expanding its deployment of Lumo smart valves in their vineyards. These customers know that Lumo is committed to the grape-growing industry, and the company’s expansion into new regions in 2025 will reinforce that they’re here to stay.
To learn more about Lumo’s smart valves with 24/7 remote control, real-time alerts and block-level visibility, contact letsgrow@lumo.ag or visit www.lumo.ag
