In a recent article, the UK Agri-Tech Centre highlighted how a new forecasting and management project – Smarter Forecasting, Communication and Management of Frost Risk in Vineyards (FROST) – is bringing together partners including WeatherQuest, Plumpton College, Vinescapes, Vinewatch and WineGB.
“Spring frost can be a major issue in UK vineyards with freezing temperatures capable of damaging emerging buds and new shoots which can cause major issues for yield and productivity,” said Richard Round from the UK Agri-Tech Centre. “As part of the project, WeatherQuest has developed tailored, site-specific frost forecasts using site topographic information and AI modelling.”
“The USP of our service is that we’re providing information that is specific to bud height rather than a standard weather measurement height,” explained Stephen Dorling of WeatherQuest. “Also, we are paying attention to the variability of temperature in the vineyard, and the third thing is the frost-type that we’re provided advice [for]. Is it going to be a radiation frost or an advection frost?”
Data is collected from the vineyard and sent to WeatherQuest through the cloud. This is then combined with company’s weather forecasts to populate the VineBuddy Portal web app, where the vineyard manager can see weather data and forecast data, as well as receiving alerts via WhatsApp when there is a risk of frost.
The UK Agri-Tech Centre says, ‘These forecasts reduce the threat of yield loss and help vineyards to focus on particular risk areas and their mitigation strategies based on the conditions. The frost type forecasts provide a clearer indication of when mitigation efforts are likely to be most effective. A better understanding of budburst can help growers identify when their vines will be most vulnerable to frost damage and take preventative action to protect their crop (such as using bougies, frost fans or sprinklers).
‘To deliver granular, site and variety specific frost risk forecasts, the research team distributed a Bud Burst Hub webapp to UK vineyards to record the timing and geographic spread of budburst that fed into a Bud Burst Model. Integrating the budburst data captured into the frost forecast webapp has resulted in a robust frost forecasting tool, helping to protect vineyards during the critical frost season.’
