In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Karl Mohr, Viticulturist at Jackson Family Wines, farms a landscape of immense diversity over eight different sites. In this challenging environment, the difference between thriving vines and a costly oversight often comes down to one thing: the ability to spot a data trend and take action before it becomes a problem.
For Karl, who worked on the original installation of some of the sites he farms, returning to them today after decades has highlighted the importance of long-term data, “I remember there being a weak spot there.. and hey, it’s still there. This is why we need to learn from the past data and manage this area differently.”
To address these persistent nuances, Karl has moved away from just using individual spreadsheets and records toward a consolidated, trend-led strategy with Sectormentor.
The One Block Challenge on the Willakenzie Site
Karl recently signed up a block from the Willakenzie site up to the One Block Challenge, a global initiative allowing winegrowers to experiment with regenerative farming on a manageable, low-risk scale before transitioning the entire vineyard.
Willakenzie was a good site for this kind of experimentation because it has high vigour, as discovered through Karl’s tracking of pruning weights (going up) and % short shoots (going down) on the Sectormentor app. The aim of the experiment is to introduce no-till to the block to devigour the vines.
“It’s a block that’s a good candidate for conversion to no-till because it’s pretty vigorous, has got a lot of vegetative growth, and the soil type, rootstock type, kind of lends itself to that.”
According to Karl, this particular block is where they have collected the most data in Sectormentor, making it suitable for experimentation and comparing variables with existing data from the block:
“We’ve got, like, most of the data in that block…That’s all historical data, so we have a good baseline, which is helpful: if you have something that’s already describing how things are there. If you then change something, that’s a good set of data to have as a historical reference, to find out how things have changed.”
Using trends to stop future problems in their tracks
Karl documents most of what he sees in the vineyards in numerous spreadsheets; all the crucial information is there already, but it would take him a while to flick through each spreadsheet and put together trends. His findings would also sit in his head; there wasn’t a physical log to compare trends over time.
This is why Karl loves Sectormentor, because now he can see all the trends in his data visualised for him and loaded instantly on Sectormentor. Whether he is assessing his phenology dates on all sites compared to previous years, or whether he is looking at his soil health status on the Regen Dashboard, everything is accessible to him and anyone in his team.
For instance, in 2024 Karl noticed in some of the blocks on the Willakenzie site that the pruning weights were decreasing, signalling to him that he needs to reduce competition with the vines. To give the vines an extra boost, he has applied humic acid rich compost, with the view to continue monitoring, reassessing and treating based on the outcomes they find.
Data visualisation and time savings
“I’ve always thought, man, it’d be really cool if you could see this set of data next to this set of data… so that you wouldn’t have to switch between documents,” Karl explains. When data is fragmented, you lose the ability to see correlations. You might see that compaction is high, but without seeing the corresponding dip in vine vigour, you miss the “why” behind the “what.”
Sectormentor’s dashboard centralises these disparate data sets into a single visual interface. For Karl, the result is “insanely clear.” By comparing different metrics, he can trace a trend line easily, instantly seeing how soil health directly impacts vine performance.
“It’s insanely clear… I can just trace a trend line with my brain. This is how you’d want to have things laid out, because it’s just all in one spot. It saves me so much time.”
Putting phenological dates into his excel spreadsheets used to take him 15 minutes, now he can input them as he goes and simply refresh the app to see his timeline visualised:
“If you copy and paste your values into Excel, that’s like a 15-minute task, whereas with Sectormentor, you can just refresh the app. So that’s really efficient, and a lot less cumbersome.”
Sectormentor vs. other vineyard management tools
For Karl, inputting data into excel spreadsheets or other apps has been a labour intensive task in the past, now he appreciates how simple it is to use Sectormentor: “It’s very easy to input data for certain values in Sectormentor compared to other other apps”.
For instance, Karl mentions that he has input a duplicate or wrong value before with other apps they use, triggering a time consuming and tedious process to correct the error:
“If you accidentally throw in a duplicate value and mess up the result, when you go to change the result, in other apps you don’t have permission to do that, and you have to contact customer service or ask somebody else to do it. Whereas with Sectormentor I can edit individual things. I can just go in and make that edit really easily. That’s a lot easier… Sectormentor doesn’t assume that I, as the user, will inevitably go in and Godzilla the data.”
Being able to input data while in fields with no signal is also a crucial feature of Sectormentor for Karl:
“If you are trying to do your Regen Indicators, it’s very easy, you can do it in the field – that’s what I like about it, even if I’m offline. I was at the Zena site yesterday, where all cell service goes to die, and being able to input my data and then just sync it later is very, very helpful. There are other apps where that’s not the case, and you can end up just losing data sometimes.”
Karl also appreciates the integrated soil health aspect of Sectormentor; the Regen Indicators have become part of his routine when walking the vineyards. First, he initiates the infiltration test and uses the waiting time to collect other vital results, such as the basal cover transect.
“We’ve been collecting the Regen Indicator results over the last two or three years… they’re laid out very intuitively in the app. I just go to our data collection points, dig some holes, start with the infiltration test and collect a few other results while I wait for that.”
Rhizosheaths: 1: Some roots coated
Earthworms: 2
Nodulation of legumes: 1.5: Nodules across root profile
Using Sectormentor for certification
Looking ahead, Karl plans to use Sectormentor’s consolidated data for certification and case studies. By being able to show exactly why a practice was changed, such as a shift in fertilisation or cover cropping, he can provide a level of transparency and justification that benefits the whole operation, and not just the vines and soil.
About Sectormentor
Sectormentor helps you “know your soil” by providing the tools to track and visualise the health of your vineyard over time. From the basal ground cover transect to the Regen Dashboard, our platform is designed to help you build a resilient, thriving, and high-performing estate.
Ready to trace your own trend lines? Book a demo here to learn how we can support your regenerative journey.
Take the first step: our free 7-day Regenerative Viticulture Course
The shift to regenerative viticulture begins with a change in how your team document what they see on the land.
We invite you and your team to sign up for our Free 7-Day Regenerative Viticulture Course. This course is designed to be an entry point to understand the foundational methodology: how to start implementing baselines, using key metrics, and integrating the observation framework loop.
Before you change what you do on your vineyards, change how you see them.
Learn to Grow Resilient Vines
and Quality Grapes with our free, 7-day email course.
and Quality Grapes with our free, 7-day email course.
If you’re running a multi-site vineyard operation and want to explore whether Sectormentor fits the way your team works, get in touch at info@vidacycle.com, or book a demo here.
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