NASA experimenting with new aerial tech to protect Lodi vineyards from virus
LODI — A new space-age study is focusing on vineyards in Lodi.
About 15 percent of all the winegrapes grown in California are produced in the Lodi region. Now, NASA is experimenting with new aerial surveillance technology there - to help protect the crops.
California winegrowers are dealing with a devastating disease.
"It's almost like wildfire out there in the vineyards, how it spreads," said Stephanie Bolton with the Lodi Grape Commission.
Leafroll virus is spread by insects and can make grapevines impossible to harvest.
"A lot of growers are seeing that their grapes are getting kind of just stuck and they're not able to ripen them enough to where they can sell them," Bolton said.
Traditionally, farmers could only spot the virus by manually inspecting leaves.
"You would go out and scout and look for visible symptoms," said Professor Katie Gold, a Cornell University plant pathologist.
But now, new research shows it can also be detected from the air.
"Our pilots nicknamed it the 'wine tour,' " Gold said.
Scientists from NASA and Cornell University are using this airplane equipped with a next-generation spectrometer to spot the disease from hundreds of feet off the ground.
"This technology was initially developed by NASA to tell us what Mars was made out of," Gold said.
They worked with Lodi grape growers to conduct their initial research.
"Yes, we are a little quaint town, but we are really progressive when it comes to our viticulture," Bolton said.
The farmers even carved this message into a field - showing nasa their appreciation.
"So that at least the pilots could see something from the air that was encouraging," Bolton said.
So just how effective is this new disease detection method?
"Our best-performing models were between 85 to 87 percent accuracy," Bolton said.
The hope is that these sensors could one day be mounted on satellites with the data available to grape growers across the country.
"We really need these early detection tools in order to have any chance in preserving the health of our vineyards," Bolton said.
Lodi also recently got a state grant for a much more low-tech method of detecting the disease. They will be using trained dogs to sniff out the bugs that spread the virus.
