20160509 Development of a Mechanistic Vineyard Simulation Tool to Support Improved Management Decisions

Each growing season, a vineyard manager makes a set of interconnected decisions (e.g., watering schedule, pruning, pesticide application, fertilization) that guide their crops throughout the year. These decisions are usually made based on incomplete information, as there are too many variables to feasibly be considered by a manager.  Growers would benefit from the development of a comprehensive simulation tool that can be used to analyze current and proposed management strategies that reduce water use, control diseases and pests, adapt to climate change, or optimize yields. Current agricultural models are either too simplistic or they are too computationally expensive to simulate field- and seasonal-scales. Brian Bailey discussed his research aimed at overcoming these limitations by combining sophisticated engineering models for radiation transfer, convection, turbulent dispersion, etc. with the efficiency afforded by graphics processing unit (GPU) technology.  The resulting modeling tool is unprecedented in terms of its physical realism and computational efficiency and has the potential to change the way that management decisions are made in the industry.