TWE adopts AI, drones to cushion effects of drought

Global wine producer Treasury Wine Estates is wasting no time insulating its vineyards from the effects of Australia’s hot, bushfire-prone summers with new technology.

Treasury Wine Estates is looking to the latest technologies to insulate the company from hot, dry summers. Picture: Bloomberg

GLOBAL wine maker Treasury Wine Estates is turning to drones and artificial intelligence to combat drought and drastically reduce its water usage.

The Australian Securities Exchange listed company, which operates 12,600ha of vineyards across Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe, has reduced its water usage by 13.5 per cent in the 12 months to June 30 using a combination of drones, new software and water conservation initiatives.

Treasury Wine Estates general manager for company vineyards across Australia and New Zealand Greg Peace said constantly adopting new technology and infrastructure to replace less efficient processes and equipment.

The company last year signed a three-year deal with agtech start-up The Yield Technology Solutions to roll out its harvest prediction and weather notification technology across all of its Australian and New Zealand orchards.

The Yield uses machine learning, data science and artificial intelligence, combined with sensors and analytics, to provide information and predictions to help commercial growers make decisions around when to irrigate, feed, plant, protect and harvest their crops.

“We’ve applied it across all of our vineyards this year and really very early in the piece we’re seeing that innovation being taken up very strongly. We’re able to make decisions about whether not to spray (chemicals) depending on the weather or climate,” Mr Pearce said.

“We’re now far more prescriptive, rather than being routine with (chemical) applications or irrigation of crops.”

The Yield founder and managing director Ros Harvey.

The Yield’s technology has also been adopted by fellow ASX-listed horticultural company Costa Group across eight berry farms in NSW, Queensland and Tasmania.

Meanwhile at TWE’s Padthaway vineyard in South Australia, drones were used for the first time this year to assess water availability and key vineyard health indicators.

The drones provide daily 3D views of the entire vineyard to assess the land for signs of water street, frost damage, irrigation leaks, vine vigour, potential nutrition problems and soil variation, allowing for a rapid response during the growing season.

Mr Pearce said across the board vine health was in good shape, rainfall had been closer to average and there had been an improvement in soil water retention, pointing to a promising vintage early next year.

“It’s far too early to make any predictions but we’re cautiously optimistic,” he said.

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