Visual Scouting for Vineyards: Sustainable Innovation Pilot 1
In recent years, the wine sector has faced mounting pressure to adopt more efficient, sustainable, and technologically advanced vineyard management practices. High-value grape production, particularly in regions such as Greece, depends on precise control of plant health, resource allocation, and disease management. Sustainable Innovation Pilot 1 (SIP1) within the OpenAgri project, led by EdenCore (Greece) addresses these needs by introducing a highly specialized visual scouting system designed to transform vineyard management through data-driven monitoring and precision interventions.
Vineyard operations have long relied on manual inspections to assess plant health, detect disease outbreaks, and determine optimal pesticide applications. However, manual scouting presents numerous limitations. Human observation is inherently labor-intensive and prone to inconsistency, leading to missed early signs of disease or pest infestation. As a result, interventions are often delayed, increasing the risk of widespread damage and unnecessary crop loss. Moreover, many vineyards still employ blanket spraying methods, applying uniform pesticide treatments regardless of actual disease distribution. This practice leads to excessive chemical use, increased operational costs, and adverse environmental impacts.
SIP1 introduces the Viewer, a tractor-mounted visual scouting system designed to provide continuous, high-resolution monitoring of vine canopy health. The system captures detailed imagery as it moves through the vineyard, allowing it to scan individual plants for early symptoms of disease, physiological stress, and pest infestations. Unlike traditional methods, the Viewer does not rely solely on subjective human assessment but leverages advanced visual processing models trained on extensive datasets of vineyard imagery. These models identify problematic patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed in manual inspections.
One of the key strengths of the system lies in its capacity to analyze canopy density in real time. Canopy density plays a crucial role in determining how much pesticide or treatment is required for each section of the vineyard. By accurately assessing this factor, the Viewer enables variable-rate spraying, applying treatments only where necessary and in the required amounts. This level of precision results in a significant reduction of chemical input, minimizing environmental impact while ensuring effective disease management.
The Viewer also supports advanced yield estimation capabilities. By monitoring the phenological development of grape clusters throughout the growing season, the system generates accurate forecasts of expected harvest volumes. This information allows vineyard managers to better plan their logistics, workforce allocation, and market supply, ultimately improving overall vineyard profitability and resource efficiency.
Beyond its field-level functionalities, the system integrates seamlessly into the broader OpenAgri Open Source (OS) platform. The Viewer incorporates several OS services, including the Weather Data Service, which provides real-time and historical weather insights critical for predicting disease risk periods. The Digital Farm Calendar allows managers to log all scouting activities, track interventions, and correlate them with yield forecasts. In addition, the Reporting Service generates automated, comprehensive reports that enable data-driven decision-making throughout the growing season.
SIP1 has been designed with flexibility in mind, offering both cloud-based and mixed (cloud-edge) operational models. In the cloud-based configuration, imagery and geospatial data are uploaded via Wi-Fi to centralized servers where advanced processing algorithms perform detailed analysis and yield estimations. In contrast, the mixed cloud-edge model allows for real-time processing in the field using pre-trained models embedded within the Viewer system. This on-site analysis provides immediate insights to vineyard managers, even in remote areas with limited connectivity.
The implementation of SIP1 is already demonstrating substantial benefits for participating Greek wineries. Early disease detection minimizes the risk of major outbreaks, protecting grape quality and overall vineyard profitability. Precision spraying drastically reduces pesticide use, lowering input costs while safeguarding surrounding ecosystems. Accurate yield estimation enhances the predictability of harvest volumes, supporting more efficient supply chain and workforce management. Meanwhile, continuous vineyard monitoring helps build valuable datasets over time, allowing wineries to track long-term trends and refine their management practices year after year.
In sum, SIP1 represents a significant step forward in the application of digital technologies for sustainable viticulture. Through advanced visual scouting, targeted interventions, and seamless integration with OpenAgri’s digital ecosystem, this Sustainable Innovation Pilot offers a replicable model for other vineyard operations seeking to adopt modern, environmentally responsible, and economically viable vineyard management practices.