Vinewatch Ltd have been appointed by Plumpton College to install Phase 1 of their Digital Vineyard.
The Digital Vineyard is thought to be a world-first because it involves the deployment of remote sensors into a vineyard both before planting but also at a density never done before. The sensors are being installed at 30m spacing which is over 10 per hectare which will give hyperlocal data about weather and soil.
Sensor installation has already started and the system will provide temperature and humidity data and particularly light data from over 100 sensors reporting at 10 minute intervals. Soil sensors will measure fluctuating nutrient levels of N, P, K as well as pH, EC, temperature and moisture. Leaf wetness and leaf temperature sensors will capture data to help refine algorithms for powdery mildew, downy mildew and Botrytis so growers can cut down the number of times they spray.
The data will be analysed in Spring 2027 to determine the most appropriate varieties and particularly root stock for planting in 2028.
The plan is to add more sensors during the course of the project to measure many other variables of the growing vines.
Sam Linter, Wine Director at the College, said: “This project has been in the works for some time so I’m really looking forward to seeing it develop. I shall be leaving my existing role as Wine Director to provide overall supervision of the Project for the College. The opportunities here are extremely exciting. Plumpton College aims to utilise new and emerging technology for the benefit of vineyard managers in the UK and around the globe and we believe that nowhere else has attempted to do anything like this before and certainly not on this scale. Plumpton is intending to publish the results to the industry to help them manage better, using validated data-driven decisions to reduce fertiliser, insecticide, and fungicide use.”
Paul Jellicoe, Managing Director of Vinewatch said: “If you’ll excuse the pun, this is truly ground-breaking research for the viticulture industry. The project will provide a rich data set that we hope will become the cornerstone of vineyard and viticulture management. We’re very excited to be helping the industry in this way.’
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