Optical remote sensing applications for viticulture - a review

Abstract

The emergence of precision agriculture technologies and an increasing demand for higher quality grape products have led to a growing interest in the practice of precision viticulture; monitoring and managing spatial variations in productivity-related variables within single vineyard blocks. Potentially, one of the most powerful tools in precision viticulture is the use of remote sensing, which has the ability to rapidly provide a description of grapevine shape, size and vigour over entire vineyards. Its potential for improving viticultural practice will rely on being able to define useful relationships between these canopy descriptors and grape quality and yield. This paper introduces the reader to remote sensing and reviews its recent, and potential, applications in viticulture.