Issue

A common irrigation practice with California fruit crops is to apply water according to a weekly schedule with a fixed quantity of water each time, or based on climate conditions, regardless of the water needs of plants. This method frequently results in over-irrigation and is often detrimental to fruit quality or yield.

Solution

A new technology, a Plant Aware Irrigation (PAI) system, is designed to address this problem, starting with wine grape crops—or viticulture. Viticulture is a good beachhead market because the cash value of the grape crop makes it more likely for owners to test new technologies (higher reward for risk). This project demonstrates this new technology in northern California. [1]