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Machines take over for people at Napa vineyard

In the heart of the Napa Valley, a vineyard produces fine Cabernet Sauvignon with virtually no help from laborers. The 40-acre “touchless vineyard” was established by Kaan Kurtural, a University of California Cooperative Extension specialist who has devoted much of his career to improving production efficiency in vineyards as labor shortages have worsened. “We set this up to be a no-touch vineyard,” he said. “All the cultural practices are done by machine.”The vineyard is mechanically pruned once with a mechanical pruner manufactured by the Fresno-based V-MECH LLC, which Kurtural says cuts the vines without fraying the shoot tips. The pruner is equipped with telemetry and GPS sensors to enable variable management of the vineyard. An array of sensors scans the vineyard as the shoots push out. The grapes are harvested by a machine that sorts them as it goes, he said.

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Capital Press
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