Early Detection, Better Protection – AI’s Role in Vineyard Disease Management & Canopy Health

Smarter Vineyards. Stronger Returns.

The Growing Threat to Vineyard Health

Climate challenges, labour shortages, and rising input costs are reshaping how vineyards operate. Grapevine diseases continue to be one of the most persistent threats to quality and yield, with outbreaks of powdery mildew, downy mildew, and grapevine leafroll disease (GVLD) capable of disrupting an entire season.

Yet, despite the stakes, most vineyard operations still rely on manual scouting, delayed interventions, and intuition-based decisions—methods that leave room for inconsistency and missed opportunities.

At Vivid Machines, we believe growers deserve better tools. We’re introducing AI-powered, real-time imaging to vineyard management, helping teams move from reactive treatment to proactive protection. With the Vivid XV3, growers can detect diseases early, monitor canopy health continuously, and forecast yield with accuracy—all while reducing labour and improving sustainability.

From Orchards to Vineyards: Vivid Machines’ Proven Track Record

After achieving product-market fit in apples, where our growers routinely use the Vivid XV3 system to monitor and optimize their orchards, we’re bringing that same advanced technology to viticulture.

In apples, our AI models have delivered:

• Over 90% accuracy in detecting diseases
• Reliable canopy health insights to inform pruning, thinning, irrigation, and nutrient decisions
• Precise yield forecasting and crop load management that reduce guesswork and variability

These real-time insights have led to increased quality production, reduced labour requirements, and more consistent returns for apple growers.

Now, we’re applying the same model to vineyards—and the early results are already promising. We’ve conducted 254 vineyard scans, collected over 300 individual cluster berry labels, and compiled more than 1,800 per-image ground truth cluster counts, including many with partial occlusions.

What we’ve seen so far is clear: Vivid Machines’ models outperform off-the-shelf detection tools, which often struggle with false positives, false negatives, and inconsistent recognition in field conditions. Our vineyard-specific model delivers high accuracy, robust cluster detection, and consistent results, even in complex environments.

Real-Time Disease Detection: Stopping Outbreaks Before They Start

Grape diseases move quickly and quietly. In many cases, by the time symptoms are visible to the eye, the infection has already spread, compromising both yield and fruit quality. Traditional visual scouting is not only time-intensive, but also leaves significant room for human error and delay.

The Vivid XV3 allows vineyard managers to detect disease as it develops—before symptoms appear—by capturing detailed spectral and visual data on every vine row during regular equipment passes.

We currently detect:

• Powdery mildew
• Downy mildew
• Grapevine leafroll disease (GVLD)
  *With over 90% accuracy in each.

Why early detection matters:

• Disease spreads fast. Real-time alerts allow for targeted interventions before the infection escalates across the block.
• Precision treatment reduces input costs. Instead of applying fungicides across an entire vineyard, growers can address only affected areas, reducing chemical use and supporting sustainability goals.
• Labour is better directed. With accurate, spatially referenced data, vineyard teams can focus where they’re needed most, improving efficiency and reducing time spent scouting.

To enhance these capabilities, we’re proud to be working with Washington State University, leading experts in grapevine leafroll disease research, and Cornell University, globally recognized for their innovation in disease detection and plant pathology. These collaborations are advancing our models and ensuring Vivid Machines remains at the cutting edge of vineyard health technology.

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Canopy Health: The First Line of Defence in Grape Production

Disease detection is only one part of proactive vineyard management. A healthy, balanced canopy is essential to reducing disease pressure and improving fruit development. Overgrown or stressed vines can limit airflow, trap humidity, and create ideal conditions for fungal outbreaks.

The Vivid XV3 system continuously monitors:

• Canopy density and structure
• Light penetration and airflow conditions
• Vine stress signals related to water or nutrient imbalance

These insights give growers a real-time, full-season view of how their canopy is evolving—and where it needs attention.

How canopy health data supports vineyard outcomes:

• Early stress detection: Catch signs of drought stress, over-pruning, or nutrient deficiencies before they impact growth or fruit set.
• Improved airflow and light: Identify areas where the canopy is too dense and adjust thinning or trellising strategies to reduce disease risk.
• Precision management: Tailor irrigation and pruning practices based on real data, rather than field averages or assumptions.

Rather than relying on mid-season checks or post-harvest analysis, vineyard managers now have access to continuous, objective canopy data that enables timely, informed decisions throughout the growing season.

AI-Powered Grape Cluster Counting & Yield Forecasting

Accurately predicting yield is essential for harvest planning, labour allocation, and winery operations—but in practice, this has always been a challenge. Cluster visibility changes throughout the season, foliage obscures fruit, and manual estimates often miss key details.

At Vivid Machines, we’ve developed AI models that handle these challenges head-on.

We’ve built:

• A visible cluster counting model with 90%+ accuracy
• A model for occluded clusters with 80%+ accuracy, even when clusters are partially hidden behind leaves or trellis wires

These models are grounded in extensive field data, including:

• 254 vineyard scans
• 300+ manually labelled cluster images
• Over 1,800 per-image ground truth cluster counts, many with occlusions
• Manually labelled visible clusters across several hundred images for instance-level precision

What this means for vineyard operations:

• More accurate early-season yield forecasts support smarter resource planning and reduce last-minute surprises at harvest
• Better scheduling for harvest crews, helping avoid delays, excess labour costs, or rushed picking
• Greater confidence for wineries to align tank space, bottling timelines, and production plans with actual fruit availability
• Improved alignment from field to fermentation, creating better predictability and stronger financial outcomes across the value chain

Where many pre-trained, out-of-the-box models failed—generating multiple detections per cluster or missing clusters altogether—our model has proven highly reliable in real-world vineyard conditions.

The Future of AI in Vineyards: What’s Next?

This is only the beginning for Vivid Machines in viticulture.

We’re actively developing:

• Earlier-stage disease detection for bud break through fruit set
• Expanded AI models for additional varieties, climates, and training systems
• Advanced analytics dashboards that allow growers to see season-over-season performance and trends at a glance

This coming season, we’ll be working with Vineyard Management Companies (VMCs), estate wineries, and growers across California and Niagara, Canada, bringing real-time, data-driven decision-making directly into the field.

With the support of leading academic institutions, extensive validation in apples, and strong early results in grapes, Vivid Machines is positioned to lead the future of AI-powered vineyard management.

Conclusion: A New Era of Disease Management for Vineyards

The challenges facing vineyards aren’t going away—but the tools we use to meet them are evolving. With AI-powered disease detection, real-time canopy health monitoring, and accurate cluster counting, growers can finally access the full picture of what’s happening in the field—every day, across every row.

If you’re a vineyard manager, winery, or grower ready to improve crop quality, reduce input costs, and streamline your operations, Vivid Machines is ready to help.

Smarter vineyards start here.

Book your free demo today and see what real-time AI insights can do for your vineyard.

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