On first sight, Joe Jones' Kurrajong Vineyard in the heart of Australia's Hunter Valley is as quaintly rustic and untouched by the hand of time as any sentimental, passing traveller could wish.

In reality, walk past the graceful Kurrajong tree into the 25-acre vineyard with its neat rows of Verdelho, Semillon, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot vines and you will encounter a bunch of discreet, but distinctly cutting edge, hi-tech aids.

An innocuous green shed houses sophisticated radio telemetry equipment, soil moisture probes are scattered amongst the vines, leaf wetness sensors nestle alongside the grapes and a compact solar powered weather station monitors rainfall, temperature, wind speed, humidity and a host of other conditions. In effect, the vineyard and all 20,000 vines are totally wired.

Data from the various monitoring devices is transmitted by radio telemetry to a number-crunching control centre in Adelaide which converts all the statistics into invaluable management information. The results are presented on a web site in easily digestible graphical form.

By accessing the internet from anywhere he happens to be, Joe can monitor the health of his vines in real time and receive early warnings of possible infections or frost. Using the internet, Joe can receive instructions on what pesticides to spray and in what quantities in order to avoid high risk diseases. Similarly, the system will tell Joe whether his vines need more water, exactly how much and when to irrigate.

And if he runs out of water, Joe simply calls up a community-owned computer-controlled pipeline system which feeds into Glennies Dam on the Hunter River and orders some more. He leaves a telephone message with the pipeline's Operations Manager who opens the appropriate valves using his laptop computer.

From his home in the small village of Kearsley in the Lower Hunter, the manager remotely controls the delivery of some 5000m litres of water (equivalent to two major storms) to 384 vineyards, golf courses and other properties in the Hunter Valley.

All this technological wizardry is the end result of a community-backed scheme - the Pokolbin Pipeline Project - brought to fruition in 2000 by Joe and like-minded Hunter Valley entrepreneurs.

"We're in a hugely competitive market," explains Joe, "which is why we need to use technology to stay ahead of the game." The Pokolbin Pipeline Project has effectively made the valley drought-proof. The scheme brought together the Hunter Valley's smaller operators who together took out a loan for $8.2 million to fund a pipeline which would feed water from the Hunter River to some 400 properties relying precariously on run-off rainwater.

Built in 22 weeks (instead of the four years predicted by government advisers), the new pipeline is a true community project owned and operated by its members. There are just two employees - one administrative and the Operations Manager - compared to the 50 needed for an equivalent manual operation.

Entirely computer controlled, the system schedules, controls and monitors every property connection - each farm has its own radio telemetry transmitter sending information back to a central computer. A continuous stream of data is fed into the system on flow rates, water levels and salinity, pump temperatures, pressure and water quality. The system can control the pumping stations, open and shut valves on individual farms, adjust flow rates, detect leaks and even shut itself down and produce monthly water bills.

"Best of all," says Joe, "the system promotes responsible irrigation by making sure water isn't wasted, the water table is protected and salinity is strictly controlled."

Next step, he adds, is to hire a specially equipped remote sensing aircraft to fly over the vineyards to capture crop management data. Amongst other vital information it will distinguish individual vines. "It's extremely difficult to tell a Merlot from a Cabernet from a Shiraz. I think some vineyards could have a nasty shock when we get the results."

Kurrajong Vineyard - www.kv.com.au
Agrilink (weather stations, telemetry, soil probes, data processing/management etc) - www.agrilink-int.com