How Lumo Pump Automation Helped Antinori Boost Yield and Avoid a $1M System Upgrade
“We successfully automated almost every irrigation set last season on 60 acres of the ranch, running the pump at night and freeing up irrigator hours to irrigate other blocks on the ranch during the day. For the first time, I can say that these blocks were sufficiently irrigated, and last year’s canopy and crop proved that.” - Andrew Oliver, Vineyard Manager at Antinori
Andrew Oliver, Vineyard Manager at Antinori, standing with Devon Wright, Lumo CEO, at a recent Napa RISE event.
Irrigation Issues
Before working with Lumo, Andrew and his irrigation team were stressed about three key irrigation challenges:
- Their original pump and mainline were specced for the lower vine densities that were planted in the 80’s and 90’s. After replanting the entire ranch to higher densities, their irrigation demand increased beyond what the system was capable of, especially when trying to irrigate before a heat wave
- They also knew they had pressure issues but weren’t sure about their size or impact
- They weren’t able to irrigate their young vines as often as they’d like
“Our biggest constraint is that we are limited to only 60 PSI at our pump station and we have 550 acres to irrigate so we were always struggling to get enough water on the vines.”
In short, their labor and irrigation system constraints were getting in the way of growing the best possible fruit.
Enter Pump Automation and Block-Level Monitoring
To get more water down around heat events, diagnose and fix their pressure issues, and irrigate their young vines more frequently, Andrew knew he needed a precision irrigation system with pump automation.
He needed to be able to do two things:
- Irrigate at any time of the day or night, on any day of the week, without relying on overtime or night shifts (“It’s expensive and generally a job no one wants to do.”)
- Monitor flow and pressure at a block level to diagnose issues and optimize set planning
"When I was introduced to Lumo I was impressed with the capabilities of their valves, but I told their team that pump automation was a necessity for our operation. They took this as a challenge and went to work, building a system that was customized to our complex irrigation infrastructure.”
That’s why he decided to install Lumo on 60 acres of the Antica ranch. Because Lumo provides block-level data and accountable automation.
What your CTO looks like after a successful pump automation test.
The Results
With Lumo valves installed, data at his fingertips, and his pumps fully automated, Andrew and his irrigation team were able to:
- Increase yield on their cab blocks by a ½ ton per acre (at the average Napa market rate, that’s an additional $2,500 an acre)
- Get their young vines established faster with more frequent and longer irrigations (three five hour sets per week versus two three hour sets before)
- Improve water efficiency and distribution uniformity by catching leaks, identifying low pressure issues, and optimizing which blocks they irrigate at the same time based on performance
- Forego a million dollar investment in a bigger pump and higher pressure mainline by doubling their pumping hours with automation and overnight irrigations
- Reduce the stress levels of his entire irrigation team, knowing they had enough pumping capacity to respond to heat events and peace of mind that their system was performing as expected
“We’ve already automated 60 acres, we plan to automate 100 more this coming season, and the long-term plan is to automate the entire 550 acre ranch because of the crop improvement and efficiency gains we’ve seen. The team of professionals that Lumo has put together is incredibly talented, dedicated, and a blast to work with, and I can’t wait to see where their hard work takes them in shaping the future of irrigation."
