Treasury Wine Estates is partaking in a new R& D project using robotics. Some of its vineyards will be used to for the innovative trial intended to help better predict weather patterns and optimal harvesting timing, as well as efficient irrigation. Its part of a collaboration between Australian agtech company, The Yield and Yamaha Motor Ventures. The trials to will commence in September (Australia) and March next year (the US).
Greg Pearce, General Manager Company Vineyards of Treasury Wine Estates said, “As custodian of some of the world’s most iconic wine brands and with a large global agricultural footprint, TWE is committed to taking an integrated approach to sustainability to manage risks and make the most of new, emerging opportunities”.
“TWE is focused on cultivating a brighter future for everyone who touches our business and products, and this includes investing in new technology and innovations to adapt to the climate trends impacting our business.
“TWE is proud of our ongoing partnership with The Yield to improve the predictability of weather and climate, crop yield, harvest timing and fruit grading – all critical drivers of wine quality. This latest industry-leading collaboration brings together our viticulture and winemaking expertise with world class robotics and automation to enable us to better predict optimal harvest opportunities and efficiently irrigate our vineyards,” he said.
Australian agtech company, the Yield, works to transform food and farming practices with scalable digital technology. Its microclimate solution combines sensors and analytics to provide information and predictions that help growers make important on-farm decisions, such as when to irrigate, feed, plant, protect and harvest. Yamaha is a leader in robotics in intensive irrigated crops and already provides commercial services in the US.
Jim Aota, CEO and Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley, Inc said, “We are excited to be working with a world-leading analytics business like The Yield. We see this symbiotic relationship between analytics and robotics as the future for intensive irrigated crops. It is advantageous for customers and better for the environment.”
Ros Harvey, Founder and Managing Director of The Yield said, “We know from customers in Australia that we can double the effective spray windows for robots using our patented microclimate and growth stage predictions. This improves robotic spray efficiency and effectiveness whilst improving environmental performance. At the same time, the robots can passively collect visual data that we can feed back into our algorithms to continually improve them. It’s a win-win.”
“We’re seeing an accelerated demand for robotics globally, particularly in intensive irrigated crops. This trend is likely to grow,” she said.