Is the wine in your glass safe?
In a stagnant liquor market, where the growth of spirit sales is flat, wine is an increasingly popular alternative investment. In the year 2000, only six wine producers existed in India; by 2008, the number had soared to sixty-five. The Indian wine industry is growing at an estimated compound annual rate of twenty to 25%; it is the single fastest-growing alcoholic beverage in India. Import taxes on foreign wines have allowed domestic wine producers to claim the lion’s share of the market, and are expected to maintain their dominant position for the next decade. Conservative consumption projections estimate that by 2020, Indian consumers will be purchasing 8 million cases of wine. Stretching from coast to coast, from Nashik to Nandi Hills, Fasal believes Indian viticulture is capable of becoming the crown jewel of the domestic liquor industry.
According to market leaders, the estimated cost to set up small scale vineyard producing high-quality grapes begins at crores rupees, with the cost of integrating grape production and wine fermentation being even higher. For large wineries that source their wine grapes in-house, like Chateau D’Ori, the start-up cost is closer to twenty-five crores. Crucially, the costs incurred in viticulture are offset by its returns, which have been growing consistently in the last decade. High-risk and high reward — that is the traditional nature of wine grape growing.
However, at Fasal, we are not convinced by what is orthodox or uniform; we do not conform to a traditional model of thinking. We believe in revolution, in the complete overhaul of how we practice and manage agriculture. We think farmers deserve solutions with the potential to change their lives, by lowering their risks and costs while increasing their returns. Fasal understands the distinctiveness of tropical grape growing, the challenges it faces, and the solutions it needs. Our technology is prepared to be that solution, by providing customized crop management recommendations to address the natural variability of the soil and microclimate of any site.
Fasal’s technology works to mitigate the risks viticulturists face. Every stage of crop development presents its own risks, though none are as destructive as the threat of fungal disease. Grapevine Downy Mildew is the most destructive grapevine diseases in the world, and Indian viticulturists are particularly vulnerable to it. Occurring in climates characterized by high levels of humidity and rainfall during spring and summer seasons, downy mildew infects the leaves, fruits, and vines of a grape crop.
The very basic conditions required for Downy mildew to occur is when there have been at least ten millimeters of rainfall at temperatures over ten degrees Celsius, within a twenty-four hour period. Known as the 10:10:24 rule, these conditions allow the primary pathogen, known as oospores, to germinate, releasing secondary pathogens, known as zoospores. These zoospores survive in the water surrounding the crop until further rainfall or irrigation splashes the free water onto the leaf surface, enabling the zoospores to infect the leaf surface. Soil moisture levels, leaf wetness, rainfall, and irrigation are all crucial in enabling the spores to infect the leaf and complete the primary infection cycle.
A secondary infection cycle takes place with the help of oil spots on a crops’ leaf surface. Oil spots are formed on leaf surfaces during periods of high humidity and are dormant until the right temperature and humidity conditions are present for sporulation. When active, oil spots produce sporangia, which are capable of producing between one and ten zoospores each. These zoospores are then carried by rain splash or wind to other parts of the plant, infecting the rest of the crop with the downy mildew pathogen. Through the secondary infection, downy mildew spreads from leaf to shoot, inflorescence, berries, and stalk. No part of the crop is left unharmed. A silent and deadly disease, downy mildew requires significant preventative management to prevent it from compromising an entire harvest.
Preventative management is difficult to implement with a disease as cunning as downy mildew. Crops often do not exhibit signs of infection until three to six days later, making it harder for viticulturists to take prompt action. As a result, farmers must be able to communicate with their plants long before their crops begin to exhibit signs of their illness. We can speak to plants in a different language: science. Fasal’s technology, based around the concept of precision farming, monitors soil, crop, and weather conditions, such as leaf wetness and soil moisture, in order to gauge a plant’s well-being. It tracks these conditions round-the-clock, noticing any discrepancies and calibrating a solution alongside its in-depth knowledge of a crop’s optimal conditions. Our sensor will know exactly when a site’s soil is too wet, if there is forecasted rainfall, or if temperatures are at optimal conditions for the development of downy mildew. Using our farm-level data, Fasal’s machine learning technology communicates with the crop, informing viticulturists when their plants are at risk of disease.
Available all day, every day, Fasal’s technology enables farmers to make data-driven decisions rather than act on intuition. Our tailor-made recommendations reduce fungicide usage, protecting crop quality, preventing unnecessary environmental degradation, and decreasing overall crop management costs. With Fasal’s technology, viticulturists can sleep easy knowing their crops are in safe hands.
Read to understand if you are irrigating your Vineyards right or not
