Grape Compass

Powdery mildew, Downy mildew and Botrytis bunch rot are constant battles for grape growers. Once identified in vineyards, it can do great damage to fruit quality and quantity. Chemical fungicides are applied preventively to mitigate this risk, usually scheduled irrespective of actual disease pressure levels. This approach results in overdosing, environmental pollution and unnecessary costs of chemicals and labour.

Grape Compass provides reliable forecasts of fungal disease pressure risks for the coming five days. This allows farmers to only spray for Powdery mildew, Downy mildew and Botrytis bunch rot when needed and reduce unnecessary expenses.

Grape Compass is developed together with several high-profile wineries in the South African Western Cape and Spain.

Technology

Grape Compass is a smartphone application providing risk forecast visualized in easy-to-understand calendars. The risk forecasts are based on cutting edge academic fungal disease models in combination with the best available ensemble weather forecasts.

Scientific disease risk models are used to determine whether the weather conditions are favorable for an infection of fungal diseases. Advanced weather forecasts serve as input for these models to calculate the infection risk for the coming days. Grape Compass uses not just one, but a wide variety of weather forecasts – the so-called ensemble forecast. As a result, Grape Compass has a zero-tolerance approach to risk levels.

Application

Upon registration, users receive a log-in for the Grape Compass application. The smartphone application shows the disease risk pressure per time block in three colors. Green stands for no risk of infection, orange stands for medium risk and red represents a high risk for disease outbreak.

The smartphone application is easy to use and provides advisories without user input or feedback. The disease risk for the coming five days is presented through calendars, each representing a different fungal disease.

Benefits

Optimise your vineyard management, discover the benefits of using the Grape Compass application:

• Reliable forecasting up to five days ahead to optimise preventative vineyard operations
• Best weather data available (ECMWF) to make reliable estimations
• Best fungal disease models available
• Zero-tolerance approach to disease pressures
• Reduce spraying costs up to 40%
• Save the environment
• Save human health
• Optimise logistical planning
• Optimise vineyard management practices: depending on risk level
• Single vineyard forecasts: close to winery and contractors further away
• User-friendly with easy to understand colour-coded graphs and models
• Information and knowledge are stored and transferable
• Low maintenance and minimal data input
• Branding sustainability and innovation

With respect to fungicide applications, Grape Compass can optimise vineyard management efficiency in several meaningful ways:

• Timing: postpone spray if forecasts shows no risk
• Product choice: decide between contact and systemic agents depending on risk level
• Spray cocktail content: downy vs powdery vs botrytis depending on risk levels
• Dosage: minimum vs intermediate vs maximum dosage depending on risk level