New York to conduct statewide vineyard survey

With the number of wineries nearly doubling in New York over the past decade, The New York Wine & Grape Foundation is inviting vineyard owners across the state to share detailed information about their grapes following the success of last year's inaugural survey.  In 2024, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF) launched a comprehensive statewide vineyard survey, its first since since 2011. Among other things, the 2024 Vineyard Report identified 29,586 acres of planted vineyards in New York State, and revealed diverse plantings including Turan, Feteasca Neagra and Gamay Noir grape varieties. Now, the foundation has decided to run the survey again for 2025, the results of which it says will help growers to make "smarter planting decisions", including which grape varieties to plant and when. The trade body, based in Yates County, New York, also plans to use the data to "create policies and programmes that better support growers, especially during weather disasters and other challenges." The 2025 vineyard survey will help build a detailed picture of New York's grape growing industry, and shape the future of the state's vineyard tapestry. Growers can complete either paper or online surveys, and are invited to record information about their 2024 grape price per tonnage, new plantings and planted acreage on land owned, leased or managed on behalf of someone else. They have until 15 May to respond, after which time responses will be collated and analysed.

AI tools

Furthermore, this second phase of data capture will help to further integrate AI tools developed by agri-tech company Deep Planet last year to allow "real-time vineyard insights" across the state of New York. Founded in 2018, Deep Planet uses machine learning and satellite imagery to address environmental challenges, and last year it applied "cutting-edge remote sensing" to map New York’s vineyards. The high-resolution satellite imagery used by the company developed custom algorithms to accurately identify grape varieties across different parts of New York, down to being able to distinguish different vineyard blocks from other surrounding agricultural landscapes. The tech developed by Deep Planet also enabled phenological analysis to take place, integrating Growing Degree Days (GDD) and crop calendars to help growers and monitor climate impact on vineyards.