We’re proud to highlight growers who are helping shape the future of agriculture. As we continue growing better together, our latest story comes from Australia’s vineyards.
Gorton Drive Estates is a family-owned vineyard situated on the banks of Kangaroo Lake in Victoria’s Swan Hill region. The estate is managed by second-generation viticulturist Chris Dent. They have been cultivating high-quality wine grapes on the property since 1969.
Chris, who oversees all aspects of the operation to supply high-quality wine grapes commercially, shared his experience with Heino Malan, our Riverina & Mallee Territory Manager.
1. What challenges were you facing in your irrigation or crop management before using Phytech?
You don't know what you don't know! We had a number of capacitance probes located throughout the vineyard and used them in conjunction with other irrigation decision tools including weather forecasts, vine growth stage, physical appearance, dig stick, etc to determine irrigation requirements and evaluating irrigation effectiveness.
All of these tools required interpretation to determine what the vine required. I love data and believe that the more valuable data points you can have, the better understanding you have to make better decisions!
2. How has Phytech changed the way you make decisions on the farm?
Phytech was the first solution we introduced that actually measured the vine's response to weather and irrigation. The first year of having Phytech was eye-opening to understand the vine's response to different weather events, irrigation events and vine growth stages.
We effectively continued to irrigate the vineyard exactly the way we always did and we made some profound discoveries that have changed the way we irrigate moving forward.
We found that we were OVER-irrigating early in the season (budburst to flowering), UNDER-irrigating through Veraison (a maturation stage of a grapevine when berry sugars start accumulating, skins begin softening and berries change their colour in red varieties), and OVER-irrigating late in the season (berries ripening).
The first change we made in the second year of having Phytech was changing how much we irrigate at critical times throughout the growing season. While we saw some improvements in water use efficiency, we witnessed improved and more even vine growth and less stress symptoms with this small change to irrigation management.
3. Can you share a specific example where Phytech helped you achieve better outcomes - such as yield, water savings, or labour efficiency? If applicable, please demonstrate ROI.
The biggest water saving we discovered was when we focused... READ FULL TESTIMONIAL HERE
On June 30, Mark Sherfy, MBV and Ziv Attia, PhD will be at the UC ANR Connect Demo Day at the UCANR Hopland Research and Extension Center.
These are the events we enjoy most. Real vineyard conditions, technology in the ground, and conversations with growers focused on practical outcomes, not theory. Water remains one of the biggest variables in wine grape production. Costs continue to rise, allocations remain uncertain, and every irrigation decision carries real financial consequences. In many cases, the difference between protecting quality and protecting margin comes down to timing.
At Phytech, we combine continuous plant monitoring, soil and climate data, and high-resolution satellite imagery to help growers make better irrigation decisions at the block level.
“The vine tells you what it needs every day. Our job is to help growers translate that signal into action.” — Ziv Attia, Head of Agronomy.
“Growers aren’t looking for more data. They’re looking for confidence in their decisions. When irrigation timing improves, everything downstream gets easier.” — Mark Sherfy, Strategic Accounts
If you’re growing wine or table grapes in Northern California, stop by and say hello. We’d love to hear what challenges you’re seeing in the field this season. Register Now
You’ve seen how Phytech’s AI Advisor makes it easier to follow what’s happening in your crops. Now we’re taking a bigger step.
Meet Daisy - the world’s first agronomic AI agent that actually grows inside your field. (The name comes from Old English – “day’s eye” – the flower that opens with the sun. it kind of fits what we’re building: an intelligence that wakes with the field and watches over it).
Built on Phytech’s in-field data - plant, soil, fruit, climate, and irrigation — Daisy doesn’t just summarize. It answers your questions, highlights priorities, and helps you act with confidence.
In your Plant app (In the area), Daisy is ready with three simple prompts:
Give me today’s highlights
Which plots should I focus on?
Should I adjust my irrigation schedule?
For growers already using AI Advisor, Daisy means fewer taps, faster answers, and clearer focus every day.
For those new to Phytech, it’s the first real AI agent in farming — not a general model or guesswork, but intelligence rooted in the crop itself.
Daisy is here to help you spend less time digging for data, and more time making the right calls in the field.
Please note that Daisy will be available for Phytech customers, except in the following cases:
Customers whose season has not yet started (e.g. South Africa and Australia) - Daisy will only be open for crops irrigated year-round (citrus, avocado, macadamia).
Customers in the Midwest – Daisy is not yet available.
Coming soon:
Free text questions
Daisy on the web app
Click below to see Daisy:
When water is limited, or fruit quality is on the line, deficit irrigation is one of the smartest tools in a grower’s arsenal. But like any sharp tool, it needs to be used with precision.
Here’s what deficit irrigation is and why it matters.
What Is Deficit Irrigation?
Deficit irrigation is the practice of intentionally giving crops less water than they’d typically receive during
select stages of development. The idea isn’t to deprive the plant, but to apply a mild, controlled stress that can slow vegetative growth or fruit expansion in ways that benefit the crop. Done well, this strategy can sharpen fruit quality, reduce disease pressure, conserve water, and even improve overall return on investment.
Why It’s Hard to Get Right
Phytech helps you identify windows of opportunity to save water so that you can protect the crop while protecting your resources.
We're happy to share the newest features and improvements.
The AI Advisor has arrived to the mobile app
It’s been 3 months since we’ve launched the AI Advisor, now we’re happy to make it available on the mobile app as well.
An Intelligence that keeps on growing
The Phytech Advisor is a new personal irrigation advisor, that encompasses all of Phytech's "know-how" data and the agronomical season central marks for each crop, to provide a brief overview status of the block and the area.
The current output is a simple and clear agronomic summary of the block’s status (for a project view) or, in area view, a general summary —highlighting key insights for specific groups of blocks (e.g., blocks of a certain variety).
Currently, all crops are active in the Northern Hemisphere except for row crops in the United States
What is it and why we built it:
Usability:
Component list icon – opens the list of hydraulic components
Diagram icon – opens the hydraulic diagram view
As part of this change, the component list icon was moved from the upper right corner to a more accessible location next to the Hydraulic toggle, alongside the new diagram icon.
Planner (web) A New Cooling Template
What is it:
Benefits:
Save time – Set once, apply anytime
Prevent errors – Built-in smart defaults
Consistent execution – Standardized across components
How It Works:
Create a cooling template – Define a name, select components, and apply preset logic.
Schedule cooling – Set start/end times and apply the template to desired dates.
Planner (web): Create and Manage Groups
What is it:
Enable users to create and manage valve groups for efficient irrigation planning and execution.
Benefits:
Simplifies scheduling by grouping valves, reducing manual effort and improving irrigation control.
Key Functionalities:
Create, edit, copy, and delete valve groups.
Assign a leading valve for structured irrigation.
Drag-and-drop to adjust irrigation order.
Seamless integration with Planner Web scheduling.
Audience:
Farm managers, agronomists, and irrigation planners.
What is it:
You can now view graphs for all hydraulic components on mobile — just like on the web. Tapping a component (from the list in Planner/Plant/Pivot, or directly from the map card in Plant) will open a detailed historical graph view:
Benefits:
Enables real-time and historical hydraulic insights on mobile without needing to access the web app.
Provides historical data views at daily, weekly, and monthly levels, just like the web app.
Improves operational efficiency by providing mobile access to critical hydraulic data anytime, anywhere.
Enhances user experience by ensuring data accessibility in the field.
You can switch between daily, weekly, and monthly views, and scroll back in time to explore past data:
That's it. See you on the next update
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Sign up by December 31, 2024 and receive FREE installation of Puffers® and complimentary in-canopy temperature & humidity sensors!
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Smarter Together: Rivulis Irrigation and Phytech announce strategic partnership to advance sustainable agriculture. Rivulis, a global climate and irrigation leader, and Phytech, a pioneer in digital farming solutions, are excited to announce their new strategic partnership.
This collaboration represents a major step forward in sustainable farming, combining Rivulis' global presence and leadership in micro irrigation products and solutions with Phytech's cutting-edge real-time plant health and hydraulic monitoring and automation technology.
As part of the move Rivulis will integrate its cloud-based precision irrigation subsidiary, Manna Irrigation, into Phytech. Phytech’s data driven approach, initially focused on aiding agronomic decision-making through real-time plant/tree health monitoring, has gradually expanded into real time hydraulic monitoring and automation of grower’s irrigation and fertigation infrastructure, providing farmers with a comprehensive view of their entire irrigation and fertigation system and further improving efficiency and sustainability.
Rivulis’ CEO, Richard Klapholz, stated, “This partnership marks a pivotal moment for us at Rivulis as we join forces with Phytech to drive unprecedented advancements in agricultural technology. The integration of ReelView and Manna within Phytech enables a seamless digital journey for farmers, providing a tiered approach for farmers to integrate increasingly sophisticated ag-tech capabilities into their operations. Together, we are setting new standards for efficiency and sustainability in farming practices worldwide.”
Phytech’s CEO, Oren Kind remarked, “Our initial success in encouraging growers to adopt technology stemmed from addressing real needs, such as alleviating the loneliness of agronomic decision-making and enabling growers a real-time problem detection in their hydraulic systems. To make this initial success affect agriculture on a global scale requires us to partner with world leaders. Being chosen by Rivulis, one of the global leaders in the irrigation world, as their technology partner, is a significant milestone that will accelerate our ability to scale globally, helping growers embark on a much-needed digital transformation toward more sustainable and efficient practices”.
Manna’s CEO Hovav Lapidot added, “Joining hands with Phytech allows us to expand our technological capabilities and reach. Our shared vision for a smarter, better way of farming is now significantly closer to widespread adoption.”
Click to read the full announcement