The long-term viability of U.S. wine grape vineyards: Assessing vineyard labour costs for future technology development. Assessing vineyard labour costs for future technology development

Edward Hellman, D. McCorkle, R. Dudensing, D. Hanselka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The motivation for this study centres on the labour-and cost-intensive nature of wine grape production and the potential opportunities for robotic technology. The objectives of this study are to develop cost of production budgets for five representative wine grape vineyards in four US states, assess the economic viability of wine grape production under current operating conditions, evaluate labour costs by production task, and identify common production challenges and tasks that could be augmented with robotic technology development. Investigators have worked with grower panels to develop a production budget for representative vineyards in four states, and to gather input on production tasks that the growers and technology developers feel would be most suitable for robotic technology. A stochastic simulation model was developed to assess baseline pro-forma financial statements for each vineyard size. Combined, the results help in exploring opportunities to strengthen vineyard profitability and competitiveness using robotics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)308-334
Number of pages27
JournalInternational Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Volume36
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2019

Keywords

  • Empirical distribution
  • Financial statements
  • Labour
  • Monte Carlo
  • Precision mechanisation
  • Robotic
  • Simulation
  • Stochastic
  • Technology
  • Wine grapes

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