Next month I’ll be traveling to Sacramento, Calif., to attend FIRA USA for the third consecutive year. For those who are unfamiliar, FIRA USA is a top tier agriculture technology conference. Each year they showcase the newest and most exciting technology in the world of agriculture. Some of these products and innovations are already on the market and some are merely startup ideas looking to get off the ground. But being that the conference is hosted in California each year, it’s no surprise that a lot of the focus is on viticulture. 

But what I’ve noticed in the last calendar year is that viticulture and conservation agriculture seem to be finding their way to each other more often than before. At FIRA USA 2022, our technology editor Noah Newman attended the conference and brought back lots of great footage and content showcasing the technology on display — much of which included viticulture OR conservation agriculture as a central theme to the product. Few of them, if any, were related to both. 

Fast forward to last year’s conference and I could see a bit more of a crossover with companies like Aigen or Ecorobotix including products for vineyard agriculture as well as products that could be suited for cover crops or no-till systems. 

And now just one month away from FIRA USA 2025, I stumbled across an article specifically focused on winemakers using cover crops on their vineyards and seeing promising results. 

The article from The Guardian focused on earthworms, something that soil health experts would all agree is a sign of a healthy soil system. But the article points out how vineyards are typically one of the most inhospitable ecosystems for earthworms because the soil is often compacted and bare. 

Also included in this article is an anecdote about two farmers who started their vineyard off with tillage and very quickly realized how dead and unhealthy their soil was. They’ve since pivoted to no-till and cover crops and see glowing results. 

Since incorporating these soil health practices, the couple says they’ve seen their earthworm population go from basically nothing to 20-30 worms per shovel-full. 

So, maybe cover crops and no-till do have a place in viticulture after all. And maybe I’ll see more of a cross over between the two at FIRA USA 2025 next month. Stay tuned and I’ll be sure to bring back my findings.