Frost Protection

Connecting through our integrators Opensensing in Australia, we can help local farmers with their frost protection measures. During the growing season, all green parts of the grapevine are susceptible to frost. Spring is a particularly delicate period for the vines since spring frost often damages opening buds and young shoots, which hazards the crop yield. In some regions, fall frost that occurs prior to the harvest, can lead to premature leaf fall, and increase susceptibility to pests. To prevent vineyards from frost damage, active methods, such as heaters, can be used.

Spring frost often damages opening buds and young shoots, which hazards crop yield.

Challenges

Reduced yield due to frost
High use of heaters
Pesticide use
Time spent on interventions

Solution

With the use of AI, we can combine national weather forecasts and measurements of the local microclimate in vineyards to produce localized weather forecasts and then pass relevant warnings to the user. In the project, we have dispersed 20 Senstick Microclimate units with solar shields on 5 ha in 4 different locations. We have used 1 LoRaWAN gateway to ensure connectivity for sensors. Once data was gathered, advanced algorithms were used to adjust national weather forecasts to the local microclimate. As a result, 20 different local weather forecasts were generated every 24h. The user received a warning for the particular part of the vineyard where the forecast showed exceeding values of the dew point temperature. Based on the warning, heaters were utilized to prevent frost. This minimizes the excess use of heaters, while also providing the protection that the vineyard needs.

Benefits