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Main message from the chapter

Growing grapes is a profitable business in California. Grape production
comprises about 500,000 ha spread in various production areas
across the state. The majority of the production area is dedicated
to growing wine grapes with decreasing area dedicated to raisin
and table grapes respectively. Application of precision agriculture
methods to permanent crops has been late, with the majority of efforts
initially focusing on characterizing the spatial variability of physical
processes in vineyard systems, then developing methods to sense
them proximally, and finally taking actions to use this knowledge to
coalesce the spatial variability stemming from soil textures.

Introduction
California produces more than 90% of the grapes in the United States.
While there are some states with mild climates that attempt to grow
wine grapes, the production capacity of these states is trumped by
the efficiency and know-how that was developed through University
of California experts in the past century. Nevertheless, there is still
a need for California grape and wine industries to harness new
technology to make the commodities efficient and cheaper to produce
while providing a value proposition for the grower.

Chapter vision
California viticulture industry is quite large and diversified. The
growing regions are numerous and mean vineyard size approaching
110 ha. It is difficult to harness the variability of these large production
units with traditional methods anymore. Precision agriculture is not
a new concept. However, its adoption in permanent crops has been

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slow, because there had not been an economic necessity to do. There
is natural spatial variability present in vineyards due to the variations
in soil characteristics and topography. Soil characteristics are too
complex to be thoroughly surveyed effortlessly. With traditional
destructive methods, it is difficult to obtain enough comprehensive
information from the soil pits at the field scale. These soil
characteristics may directly affect the water availability for grapevines,
which eventually determine the physiological performance of the
vines. However, there is no variable management practices currently
available to accommodate the natural spatial variability. Thus,
the spatial variability derived from vineyard soils will inevitably be
expressed in the whole plant physiology at the cost of homogeneity of
vineyard productivity and quality. We previously reported the spatial
variation of mid-day stem water potential affecting grapevine carbon
assimilation and stomatal conductance of grapevine. The resultant
variations in whole-plant physiology were associated to flavonoid
composition and concentration at the farm gate. However, there is
a lack of information about the effects on the chemical composition
in the final wine, which would ultimately determine wine quality as
perceived by consumers.

Georeferenced proximal sensing tools can capture the spatial and

temporal variability in vineyards, making it possible to supervise and
manage variations at the field scale. Previous studies showed that
soil bulk electrical conductivity (EC) may be used to evaluate many
soil attributes, including soil moisture content, salinity, and texture.
Soil electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensing has been used in
precision agriculture to acquire soil bulk EC at the field scale due to
its non-invasive and prompt attributes. Although research had been
conducted on the relationships between soil electrical properties
with plant water status, they were mostly point measurements and
the results were rarely interpolated to whole fields. There were only
a few studies that investigated the EMI sensing and soil-plant water
relationships over a vineyard. Previous research suggested that the

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connection between soil water content and soil bulk EC could have
relied on specific soil profiles, and needed to include soil physical and
chemical properties to complete this connection. Nevertheless, there
is evidence that soil bulk EC may still be useful not only to identify the
variability in soil, but also in the plant response affected by vineyard
soils such as yield, plant physiology and grape berry chemistry.

Plant available water is a determinant factor on grapevine physiology

together with nitrogen availability in semi-arid regions. Wine grapes
are usually grown under a moderate degree of water deficits as
yields were optimized at 80% of crop evapotranspiration demand
with sustained deficit irrigation. Water deficits would limit leaf
stomatal conductance and carbon assimilation rate that sustain both
grapevines’ vegetative and reproductive growth and development.
When grapevines are under water deficits, carbohydrates repartitioned
into the smaller berries would enhance berry soluble solids content.
Sucrose and fructose, which are the major components of total
soluble solids in grape berry, can act as a signaling factor to stimulate
anthocyanin accumulation. The effects on grapevine physiology and
berry composition also depend on the phenological stages they occur
and how severe and prolonged the water deficits are.

Selective harvest is one of the targeted management strategies to

minimize the spatial variation in berry chemistry in vineyards. By
differentially harvesting or segregating the fruits into batches prior
to vinification, the berry composition can be artificially set at a more
uniform stage with minimal variations. The figures below show
the spatial variability of soil bulk EC and differences in soil texture
and how these were related to plant physiology and grape and wine
composition. It is a simple approach that can be mechanized, or can
be applied by manual harvesting, once the delineation of the vineyard
zones is done via soil or plant water status sensing.

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Soil texture varies along vineyards spatially, however; this is stable

temporally. As depicted in Figure 1, the deep and shallow soil texture
are very well related to the soil electrical conductivity presented in
Figure 2 Likewise, the cascading effects of soil texture, the ability to
sense it proximally results in different berry sugar accumulation that
can affect phenolics in the berry depicted in Figure 3.

Figure 1. Spatial variability of soil texture in a commercial vineyard in California.

Figure 2. Spatial variability of bulk soil electrical conductivity in a commercial

vineyard in California.

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Figure 3. Relationship of sugar production and color production as affected

by spatial variability of soil texture and electrical conductivity in a commercial
vineyard.

Conclusions
Recent efforts in precision viticulture provided evidence of the
connection between soil bulk EC sensing and whole plant physiology,
and the effects of which then cascaded to berry and wine chemistry.

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We can now say that soil bulk EC in vineyard systems affect plant
water status. The clusters of plants with similar water status may
comprise zones of similar physiological behavior due to these inherent
differences from different plant water status, and the discrepancies
in plant water status result in cascading effects on berry chemistry.

In conclusion, this work provides fundamental knowledge about the

applicability of soil bulk EC sensing in the vineyards, and its potential
directional utilization by connecting proximal sensing to spatial
distribution of whole-plant physiological performance together with
berry and wine chemistry.

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CAPÍTULO XXXV
Field crops in California – crop
production in the low desert area

Author
Khaled Bali
University of California, Division of Agriculture
and Natural Resources
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Main message from the chapter

Alfalfa and forages are major field crops grown in California. Other
major field crops grown in the state include sugar beets and major
cereal grains such as barley, wheat, rice, corn, and oats. Only alfalfa
and other hay as well as rice rank among the top 15 crops for value
in California. Most of the available water for irrigation is generated in
northern California but most of the water demands are in central and
southern California. The low desert region of California is one of the
major field crops production region in California and irrigated entirely
using water from the Colorado River. The Colorado River water is used
in seven US states and Mexico, but California has the largest share
with approximately 27% of the Colorado River yield, which is mostly
used for producing field and vegetable crops in southern California
and some fraction allocated to urban regions. The area planted to
field crops in California has declined by approximately 30% over the
15 year period ending in 2019 due to the increased planting of grapes
and nut crops mostly in central California.

Introduction
California agriculture is a $50 Billion industry that relies heavily on
the State’s developed water resources for its economic viability and
environmental sustainability. With the increasing water scarcity,
competition for freshwater supplies among sectors, and impacts of
climate change on irrigated agriculture are projected to intensify soon.
Growers in California are under continuous pressure to grow crops
with increasingly limited water supplies. Sustainable production in
the state requires careful management of limited water supplies and
smart irrigation practices to stretch the available water and minimize
the environmental issues associated with over irrigation.

Novel technologies to aid irrigation decisions, such as Tule ET

monitoring stations, soil- and plant-based irrigation scheduling

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methods and tools could be used to conserve water and improve

efficiency. Water use specifically on alfalfa and other major field crops
is relatively high compare to grapes, nut crops, and vegetable crops.
The limited water supplies and increased demand on nut crops
resulted in reduction in the agricultural area planted with field crops
in central California but this trend did not have a major impact on the
field crops grown in southern California.

Chapter vision
The production of field crops in California (Figure 1) is directly impacted
by the limited water supplies and the increased water demand of
cash crops. California growers are facing challenges associated with
limited and impaired water supplies and recurring droughts. Water
availability during drought periods and high labor costs associated
with surface irrigation systems on field crops are other challenges
that growers must address to maintain economically viable field crop
production in the state. Innovations such as automation of surface
irrigation systems could provide alternatives to existing irrigation
systems with substantial benefits resulting from irrigation efficiency
gains and labor costs reductions.

Surface irrigation or flood irrigation systems are most commonly

used for irrigating forage crops in California. With overall efficiency
in the range of 65-70%, these methods are perceived as inefficient by
many state agencies and stakeholders related to the forage industry.
More efficient irrigation systems such as drip or sprinkler irrigation
are limited for forage production due to the high investment and
maintenance costs and other potential negative impacts such as
salinity buildup, energy costs, and difficult integration of fertigation
with the use of dairy process wastewater.

Automation of surface irrigation systems has the potential to greatly

improve irrigation efficiency, reduce water and nutrient losses below
the root zone and save labor and energy with potential credits

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resulting to reduction of energy usage and thus of greenhouse gas

emissions.

Figure 1. Major field and seed crops in California (Source: California Department
of Food and Agriculture- CDFA: California County Agricultural Commissioners’
report crop year 2017-2018).

Conclusions
Sustainability of field crop production in California is facing
challenges related to limited water availability and high labor costs.
Opportunities to address these challenges vary by production region
in the state. However, improving irrigation system performance and
reducing labor costs are key factors in maintaining the viability of
field crops.

Surface irrigation (mainly furrow and border irrigation) are most

commonly used systems for irrigation of field crops in California.
Most of the water losses through these systems are either by surface
runoff or through leaching or a combination of both.

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Automation of surface irrigation systems increases irrigation

efficiency and water use efficiency (yield per unit of applied water)
and reduces the cost of labor and water.

In addition to water conservation, reduced surface runoff and

deep percolation reduce erosion, offsite movement of pesticides/
phosphorous, and nitrate leaching. Surface irrigation automation
involves the use of wetting front advance sensors, flumes or flow
meters, and electronic timing control gates to determine the irrigation
cutoff time (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Surface irrigation automated gates in Holtville, California.

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