The economic impact of drones on viticultural processes

Abstract

Nowadays there are many challenges facing both winegrowers and workers, in other agricultural practices, related to the growing demand for food products, the safety and quality of these products, and the preservation of the environment… [1]. In addition to these concerns, it is also possible to notice the occurrence of climate change, where temperatures have risen, rainfall has become more irregular, atmospheric CO₂ has increased, leading to soil degradation and desertification [2]. In case the negative impact of climate change is not properly mitigated, crop productivity and berry quality are affected, vine growth stages are prejudiced, leading to greater fragility in the plant, enhancing the occurrence of pests and diseases. Consequently, technologies began to emerge, in order to enable grape producers to continue with their practices while dealing with climate change, without harming the environment and well managing the rise in production costs. Precision agriculture thus emerged as the answer to optimizing processes, assisting in making them faster, cutting production costs and reducing input waste, to decrease the environmental impact of agricultural practices [3]. Therefore, drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) are playing an important role in precision agriculture, starting to become essential for decision support in viticulture processes. Specifically, in the processes of monitoring irrigation and controlling pests and diseases. This study aimed to assess the economic effectiveness of drones in these processes, to quantify the costs of incorporating drones in them. In order to carry out this research, flowcharts were used to design the two processes, allocating costs to each stage of the process. For the analysis, the costs of each process were compared without and with the inclusion of these technologies. In conclusion, we seek to show winegrowers the economic impact that the use of drones can have when inserted into grape growing processes. This could lead to greater adherence to these technologies, contributing to the adaptation of producers to the innovations that lead to the development of the wine sector

References

[1] Rejeb, A., Abdollahi, A., Rejeb, K., & Treiblmaier, H. (2022). Drones in agriculture: A review and bibliometric analysis. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture.

[2] Schultz, H., & Stoll, M. (2009). Some critical issues in environmental physiology of grapevines: future challenges and current limitations. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, 16, 4–24.

[3] Sassu, A.; Gambella, F.; Ghiani, L.; Mercenaro, L.; Caria, M.; Pazzona, A.L. Advances in Unmanned Aerial System Remote Sensing for Precision Viticulture. Sensors 2021, 21, 956.