Collabriculture: an open and collaborative approach to technology in the wine industry

Abstract

This project was designed to demonstrate the benefits of a developer centric and open standards driven strategy to technology in the Australian wine sector.

The project validated the approach of mapping vineyards at survey grade accuracy, as well as using an API orientated platform to manage key vineyard mapping layers such as block boundary files for the benefit of the wine industry. A proposes a route to implement this approach at scale.

Working with the developer and wine community, the project published key datasets such as grape vine varieties, wine region, and phylloxera boundaries in a developer orientated repository such as GitHub.

Summary

This report highlights the difference between Web Grade and Survey Grade mapping of vineyard infrastructure, and the value proposition that they can deliver for the industry. While web Grade mapping meets most use cases for the industry at the moment, it is survey grade mapping of the assets and infrastructure of the vineyard that unlocks the value of technology and data in the future.

The recommendations of the #Collabriculture project are:

• Use the AgTech demo sites (initially Nuriootpa / Loxton, but ideally additional commercial vineyards) to practically demonstrate the value of Survey Grade mapping of the vineyard infrastructure, and having open and interoperable maps and data structures of vineyards being in place enabling the data set to be shared with relevant tech partners.
• The key stakeholders in the wine industry (Wine Australia / AWRI / Vine Health) to lead collaboration around a common project that uses the model of the Red Meat & Wool program to enable and support all wine producers in Australia to have useful and interoperable digital infrastructure maps of their vineyards. This common dataset of all vineyards will allow wine producers to generate reports to meet their compliance obligations (spray record keeping / sustainability reporting / biosecurity compliance).
• Continue to make organic progress with early adopter wine producers by developing a QGIS plugin that enables Survey Grade mapping of vineyards to be transformed to fit with the open vineyard data model structure.
• Continue to publish useful resources for developers in the GitHub repository, we’ve started with grape varieties / GI boundaries, phylloxera exclusion boundaries are in the process of being published, and resources such as the AWRI agrochemical database are other key building blocks to publish openly in order to drive innovation across the industry.
• Bring in experts with experience in open GIS platforms and open data standards to continue to develop the GitHub repository for the industry and extend and refine the data model. A working group of willing participants from across the industry should also be formed, and they can be instrumental in developing a more open approach for the industries reporting tools, which would be another key enabler of the wine industry innovation ecosystem