Precision Viticulture Focusing Southern Brazil

Abstract

There are four main wine regions in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil: (1) "Serra Gaúcha"; (2) São Francisco Valley; (3) “Serra do Sudeste” and (4) “Campos de Cima da Serra”. The region (1) is the oldest wine region of Brazil, related to Italian immigration in nineteen century. Regions (2), (3) and (4) are newer, showing similarities but soft changes in climate and soil conditions. Precision viticulture (PV) has advanced in these poles in the last 20 years. Different techniques related to precision viticulture in the context of the precision agriculture (PA) network of Embrapa, including soil mapping, physical properties sensors, remote sensing, spectrorradiometry and miscellaneous methods. Results suggest a medium technological development of PA in Brazil, with the most approaches related to grain production and few enterprises of growing fruit or viticulture, including PV. Most techniques considered an academic context or, in a few specific cases, the productive sector.