The State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) is providing grants to advance innovative irrigation systems in California agriculture. These systems aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance water conservation. Eligible components include soil moisture monitoring, drip systems, low-pressure irrigation setups, pump upgrades, and renewable energy integration. In collaboration with Tule Technologies, HotSpot AG simplifies ET scheduling and monitoring, contributing to efficient water and energy use, resulting in significant savings for growers. Grant applications are scheduled to release on November 28, 2023. Explore more about getting started at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHFhdkVQ2-A

This month, Congress (barely) passed the Inflation Reduction Act, known colloquially as "The Climate Bill." This bill puts an unprecedented $369 billion towards reducing carbon emissions and investing in domestic energy production and manufacturing. A big slice of this is ear-marked for agriculture. How much you ask? Let's see... $4 billion is included specifically for drought-assistance for the West and the Colorado River Basin via the Bureau of Reclamation.  $14 billion is going to support rural electric cooperatives' transition to cleaner energy and help farmers invest in renewable/more-efficient energy. This is the single largest investment in home-grown biofuels...ever.  $5 billion is going to protect communities from wildfires and combat the climate crisis through climate-smart forestry.  $25 million is going towards climate-smart ag and soil health innovations. Some of this can be a little nebulous, but one very clear point is that $20 billi

Vines' nutrient needs vary across the season, and bloom is a particularly sensitive time. Leading up to bloom, you want to make sure your micronutrients are on point. Boron and Zinc for instance are crucial if you want to ensure good set. On the other hand, too much nitrogen can reprogram your vines to think veggie and forgo fruit production all together.  Once fruit is set though, it's time to lay on the macro-nutrients. Most vines benefit from Nitrogen and Phosphorous at this time. These will help your canopy expand and ripen up all those grapes you've got coming.  If your vines need Potassium, now is a good time to apply it. Again...if they need it. I don't need to tell you how much winemakers freak out about the big K, but at this point vines are making good use of it and harvest is a long way off. You can read all about the importance of Potassium here.  Calcium and Magnesium are also important, but overdoing one or the other can seriously mess with

February 16th: Pinot Noir is already bursting at this Russian River Vineyard It's been a little toasty for February. It looks like we're off to an early start this season...again...and with that a particularly dangerous frost season.  If you haven't noticed, it's still pretty hard to get stuff. Frost systems are no exception. If you don't want to be camped out next to your fans this spring, now is the time to order your frost alert system. Set thresholds, get phone call alerts, and keep track of your data.  Contact loni@advancedvit.com to discuss the best solution for your vineyard. What can the EQIP grant do for you? A lot of you may have missed out on SWEEP this year. The EQIP grant can pick up where SWEEP left off, helping to cover soil probes, flowmeters, and weather stations. That's just the tip of the iceberg! What about rotating cover crops, or brush-management? Owl boxes? There's so much this program can do. Check out this full intervi

Looking to fund your next water/energy-saving project? The CDFA's SWEEP grant is open for applications through January 18th.  There's still quite a bit of money up for grabs but it's going fast. Contact Loni at loni@advancedvit.com or (415) 619-4955 to discuss your project ideas and funding opportunities. SWEEP awards up to $200,000 per project to fund things like: Solar Soil moisture monitoring Plant stress sensors Irrigation automation Updating/replacing irrigation pumps  Installing flowmeters and well/tank depth sensors Installing Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) Installing weather stations Let AV help you take advantage of the over $40 million reserved for improving on-farm water use and energy. Don't forget to check out our most recent blogposts on soil moisture and upcoming legislation regarding ground water. Now is the time to invest in efficient resource management.  Installing soil probes is a great way to take advantage of this opportunity

The three GSA Boards (Groundwater sustainability agencies) will hold public hearings to review and consider adoption of Groundwater Sustainability Plans on the following dates and times: Sonoma Valley Monday, December 6. The public hearing will begin no earlier than 4:15 p.m. The meeting will be held virtually, via Zoom at https://scwa-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/87939906214?pwd=QXRiRmVtMEFvWjl5cm42VUNkbkpXUT09  Go to https://sonomavalleygroundwater.org to review the GSP and for meeting agenda and materials. Petaluma Valley Wednesday, December 8 The public hearing will begin no earlier than 5:45 p.m. The meeting will be held virtually, via Zoom at https://scwa-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/82780290360?pwd=SVl4Q2hQSWJiTndXeUNZM3FVREYzUT09 Go to https://petalumavalleygroundwater.org to review the GSP and for meeting agenda and materials. Santa Rosa Plain Thursday, December 9 The public hearing will begin no earlier than 1;15 p.m. The meeting will be held virtually, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8333541972

You may have noticed it's harder to get stuff these days. It doesn't look like things are going to get better anytime soon. More importantly, they aren't likely to get better in time for frost season.  Oh yee a little faith...and planning. Why not order your new frost alert system today? The AV team can have everything installed and ready to go before the first buds start pushing. Track data, set thresholds, and receive alerts. Avoid the panic. Contact paul@advancedvit.com to discuss the best system for your vineyard. Looking to get in on the SWEEP Grant? The Sonoma RCD and Sonoma County Farm Bureau are hosting a FREE online informational workshop on the State Water Efficiency & Enhancement Program (SWEEP). Join on Zoom November 18th 10-11:30 am. Click here to register SWEEP provides financial assistance to farmers and ranchers who implement practices to improve water use efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Maximum award is $200,000. Applicat

It’s…raining? Cool! But what does this mean for my soil moisture? Are we set for the season next year? If only I had someway to know for sure. Let’s take a look at some of the data. Here’s a site we monitor just north of the town of Napa. The last big rain we had was on the 24th of October and sure enough, the 6.30” of rain that fell that day was enough to fill the soil to field capacity! Yay! …However, another site near Calistoga has 7.52” of rain. This site has a much lighter soil. Water percolates very rapidly here and sure enough, most of that water didn’t stick around. The winter may be young, but my point is that knowledge means everything. A soil moisture probe and a weather station will tell you a lot. Add a temperature sensor and you’ve got frost and heat alerts too. This past season we saw a lot of farmers who didn’t irrigate early enough. Vines suffered severely uneven and stunted growth whose ill effects lasted