"Our goal is to leverage artificial intelligence and new technologies to contribute to better resource management and help farmers be better prepared to face extreme weather events and move towards a more drought-resilient viticulture," he adds.
The innovative VitiGEOSS solution for managing wine farms combines technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, remote sensing, drones, satellite Earth observation services, and sensors located in the field to generate forecasts, recommendations, and useful indicators that contribute to improving the management and sustainability of agricultural practices.
“The VitiGEOSS platform collects and integrates data on long-term climate predictions up to three months in advance, the prediction of the different phenological stages of crops and indicators related to plant physiology and the specific amount of water needed for the proper development of the vineyard,” says Xavier Domingo, director of the Applied Artificial Intelligence Unit at Eurecat.
The tools integrated into the solution also enable the early detection of vineyard diseases and the generation of alerts for the application of preventative treatments based on the risk level of spread, adjusting the specific quantity needed. This facilitates informed decision-making, more sustainable management, and adaptation to new situations caused by climate change.
This smart platform has been validated with Familia Torres wineries in Catalonia, Symington in Portugal and Mastroberardino in Italy, and is currently available in demonstration mode for wineries that are interested.
Furthermore, the digital solution allows monitoring of crop performance week by week and contributes to reducing operating costs and the environmental impact of wine sector operations.
In this sense, it also has a task planning optimization tool to manage field work in the vineyard, such as harvesting, which generates recommendations based on available equipment and resources, to prioritize sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The VitiGEOSS project consortium, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program, consists of nine partners from Spain, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands, including three research and technology organizations (Eurecat technology center, Barcelona Supercomputing Center and LINKS Foundation), a university (the University of Naples Federico II), an SME (eLEAF), a consultancy (PwC) and three wineries (Familia Torres, Symington and Mastroberardino).
