Lumo Team Notes from Unified

A bunch of the Lumo squad was in Sacramento last week for the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium . I wanted to share some of their thoughts on the wine industry in general and irrigation automation in particular.

On the industry side, not surprisingly, there was a lot of doom and gloom.

California is overplanted and the market’s oversupplied. Input costs are high. Neoprohibition seems to be in full swing. The perennial question of whether Millennials and Gen Z will ever increase their wine consumption continues to loom large, and everybody’s worried about the labor market.

But folks who have been in the industry long enough know how these cycles go. There will be a realignment, and this downturn very well may be more severe or longer lived than usual, but no one thinks the wine industry is going anywhere.

Aaron Rubin was heartened to hear that 30% of the industry is still growing (especially the mid-tier to ultra premium ~$35-300+ segment), and Kathy Turner was quick to recount stories of great wine brands that were built during hard times.

Even in a tough market there are ways to grow, opportunities to seize, and smart investments to make.

Labor concerns drove a lot of interest in irrigation automation. Alex Baker got the sense that the topic is being discussed more often at weekly meetings and that owners were asking ranch managers more detailed questions about their labor plans for the year. Marc Krafft said, “Most folks were looking for automation solutions and were excited about how Lumo could help.” And Justin Craig , our CS leader, agreed, “People were really engaged. Our current customers believe in what we are doing and prospects are really intrigued by our technology.”

Fault detection also came up often. “Three different growers from Napa said that coyotes commonly use emitters as chew toys,” said Alex. “Everyone seems to have a story about a broken pipe that wasn't discovered for a few days.” Morgan Jernigan agreed, “Folks were super interested in the idea that we could track water and the fact that they could see all the data and control irrigations from their phone or computer.”

Both business and water efficiency were also top of mind.

“People know they need to be doing more with less,” said Alex. “Growers like the idea of being able to be more water conscious while also improving the quality of their grapes through precision,” Morgan added.

Ishan Tikku , our Senior Product Manager, was there to continue building out our roadmap of integrations and partnership ecosystem. Had great discussions with folks from Sentek , Davis Instruments , and Irrometer Company Inc. , to name a few. There's a lot of interest from growers on how they can better unite their irrigation execution and soil moisture monitoring data.

To end on a positive note, Kathy shared “how great it was to meet people face-to-face, to hear their story and tell us what they’re all about. And then to get a chance to tell them about Lumo, show them the valve and the Ops Center and the ability to see their flow rates. You get to see that light bulb go off in people’s heads. They crack a smile, their tone of voice changes, and they start asking really good questions. It’s just super gratifying to be involved with a company that’s really making a difference and that people get it. They get how this technology can play a key role in helping them meet a lot of the challenges that the wine market is facing today.”

If you're looking to learn more about Lumo's precision irrigation system and smart-valve technology, check out Lumo.ag or request a demo.