With Australia in the grip of La Nina and many vineyards inaccessible to machinery because of heavy rain, Campbells Wines in Rutherglen has started spraying vineyards with a helicopter.
“It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the vineyard,” Campbells Wines said in a Facebook post.
“With extremely wet weather this month in Rutherglen, we brought in a helicopter over the weekend to get the job done.”
Jane Campbell says, “It’s certainly not the cheapest way to spray the vineyards, however the ground is far too wet to get tractors on.
“We would end up with a real mess otherwise with tractor ruts etc.
“We used a plane several years ago because of similar conditions.
“We have another four or five days of heavy rain forecast from Thursday so I have a feeling we may be flying again.
“Need to sell more wine! The joys of farming!”
The helicopter company is Rotor Solutions Australia, which describes itself as “experts in precision agriculture”.
Meanwhile Zerella Wines in McLaren Vale has been spraying vineyards with a drone.
“It was very effective and it was our first time attempting it,” Joe Zerella says.
“We would do it again if conditions necessitated.”
Helicopter Photographs: Campbells Wines Facebook.
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