It is generally believed that farmers are slow to adopt new technologies. Yet while this adage may be true for more expensive, untested innovations, when a new technology is practical, affordable, and can prove its value and reliability, farmers effectively put aside their innate caution and willingly invest.

Tyler Klick is a good example. As a winemaker and co-owner of Redwood Empire Vineyard Management In Geyserville, California, he decided to try innovative smart irrigation technology developed by Lumo. Click for first time installed Lumo smart valves on some client vineyards last season. After seeing how they helped increase labor efficiency, reduce water waste, and improve customers’ harvest results, he deployed it at more than a dozen vineyards his company managed. “I’d like to get to the point where all of our customers have it installed,” Klick says.

Lumo smart valves are also helping West Coast winemakers adapt to climate change, which has brought triple-digit heat waves to California vineyards. By reducing pump capacity and labor constraints, Lumo allows producers to respond quickly to heat events. Vineyard teams can open and close the valves from their mobile devices or schedule the valves to open automatically at night.

Another Lumo customer took advantage of this automation capability to save on labor and energy costs. After installing Lumo smart valves on two blocks in 2023, this season Wente Vineyards deployed them on 100 acres at their Ernest Ranch. Their goal was to automate irrigation cycles during off-peak hours, allowing them to take advantage of lower energy rates.

Hannah Lindner, viticulture manager at Wente, says: “Before, all our valves were manual, and we had to send irrigation crews to open and close each valve at the start and end of the day – continuous work. With Lumo smart valves, we have this microcontrol and we have confidence in the ability of the valves to give us the quality we expect from the vineyard. Lindner also knows that if a leak occurs while everyone is asleep, the Lumo system will send an alert.

Lumo Founder and CEO, Devon Wright, explains that “Lumo gives farmers confidence. You can’t have reliable automation without accountability. A system that opens and closes valves does not meet the goal of automation. A farmer needs to be sure that the right amount of water is coming out without having to pay people to make sure the pump is running and there are no leaks.

These are aids that help farmers save money, but Lumo goes well beyond automatically turning the water on and off. This improves their visibility of irrigation problems that may be difficult to detect with the naked eye. For example, determining how much water the system is emitting or whether the filters are clogged. Farmers can use Lumo’s software to track flow rates on their mobile devices, making it easy to see if they are lower than expected. If so, a team member can come out to flush the filters or fix any other issues needed to bring performance back to the desired rate. Relying solely on in-person monitoring in the field could have delayed the discovery of a similar problem for several days, resulting in crop underwatering. Other irrigation strategies include scheduling repeated irrigation schedules, such as half an hour on and half an hour off, for growers with sandier soil or hard topsoil, so to avoid wasting water.

In addition to increased labor, energy and water efficiencies, growers like Lindner and Klick are finding that adopting Lumo’s more accurate irrigation volume tracking improves irrigation metrics. performance and quality. At the same time, the data collected allows them to learn from each season and become more precise.

Installing Lumo smart valves takes just a tenth of the time it takes for other systems, as there is no need to insert cables. It’s also three to five times more affordable than trying to piece together solenoid valves, sensors, telemetry units and software.

Lumo’s success in making precision irrigation easier than ever for its customers to perform has led to rapid expansion in the Livermore, Lodi, Napa and Sonoma County areas, establishing a strong customer base which in turn , is expanding its deployment of Lumo smart valves in their vineyards. These customers know that Lumo is committed to the wine sector, and the company’s expansion into new regions in 2025 will strengthen its commitment to its presence.

To learn more about Lumo’s smart valves with 24/7 remote control, real-time alerts and block-level visibility, contact [email protected] or visit www.lumo.ag