Feature Stories

“For the phytoremediation project we were looking for a solution for 3 separate needs:

• Tracking of soil moisture to effectively irrigate trees planned to help suppress a high groundwater table in the vicinity of a waste closure cell.
• The site is several hours away and we needed the ability to automatically control and monitor irrigation;
• Tracking weather conditions to optimize overall operation of the system.

Because of the remote location of the site each of these functions needed to be available remotely and on-line. In Ranch Systems, we found a system that integrated all of the above functions. The system was successfully deployed for the 2008 season. We have been very pleased with the performance of the system and the service provided by Ranch Systems”

AMEC Geomatrix is a diversified technical consulting and engineering firm with offices throughout North America, and affiliates throughout the world. AMEC Geomatrix has a professional staff of more than 500 engineers, scientists, and technical experts. Industries represented among our clients include oil and gas, petrochemicals, food, agriculture, financial services, real estate development, and the legal community. We also perform services for utilities and water districts, and for the U.S. Federal, state, and local governments.

“Our 105 acre Obsidian Ridge ultra-premium vineyard planted at 2,700’ on the Mayacamas Ridge in the Red Hills of Lake County presents a triple challenge of extreme environmental variability, rugged terrain and remote location.  Ranch Systems’ durable wireless nodes and user-friendly analysis software provide an effective and affordable way for us to monitor a range of climate factors all the way down to block level. Furthermore, the Internet access means that the vineyard managers, winemaking team and consultants all have shared access to the real-time data wherever they are, greatly improving daily decision making.

In our 10 zones we have over 35 wireless nodes measuring humidity, temperature, wind speed, rainfall, dew point, soil moisture, UV radiation and irrigation water flows.  We access all this data and view graphical charts in real time over the Internet, and can quickly create custom historical comparisons and drill downs. We now adjust watering, canopy management, harvest sampling much more quickly based on daily climate analysis- not easy in such a remote location. Plus, in the winter the system acts as a 35 point frost alarm system which with the radical morphology of our site is a huge help- the systems sends alarms to the complete vineyard team’s cell phones 24/7.

Finally, we can use all this information not only for decision making during the season, but also later on to look for hidden relationships between vineyard factors and wine quality, ultimately letting us grow and make ever-better wine.

We know of no other way to get this quality of insight at this cost.”