Durk van Willigen

Spatially Smart Wine was a project initiated by an enthusiastic group of Sydney Young Surveyors, with the support of the Institute of Surveyors New South Wales and the School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems and the University of New South Wales. Readers may recall that we published the …

Precision viticulture (PV) is styled from the zonal management paradigm of precision agriculture, where large homogeneous fields are divided into smaller units based on yield or other field characteristics which may be differentially managed (Lamb et al., 2002, Bramley, 2009, Bramley and Robert, 2003) (Note that McBratney et al. (2005) suggest the definition of precision agriculture is continually evolving as we develop further technologies and greater awareness of agricultural processes). PV acknowledges the numerous spatial variations that affect grape quality and yield, including soil characteristics, pests and diseases and topography (Hall et al., 2003, Arnó et al., 2009), providing land managers with the tools to quantify and manage this variability (Proffitt, 2006). Land managers can thus ‘selectively’ treat areas, for example by the variable application of mulch, water, fertiliser, sprays etc.