The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC), in association with the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture (CRCV), is hosting an all day seminar and workshop entitled Vineyard monitoring and Management beyond 2000 on Monday 7 August.

Director of the NWGIC, Professor Geoff Scollary, said that the new technologies that have been developed for precision agriculture have not yet been applied extensively to viticulture.

"These new technologies allow rapid and reliable assessment of vineyard variability, irrigation monitoring and disease monitoring which improves the efficiency of quality grape production", Professor Scollary said.

"The techniques of precision viticulture have application to both small and large grape growers and our aim is to appeal to both the small boutique operators and the large corporate vineyard operations."

The international speaker is Lee Johnson from California State University who will describe experiences in the application of remote sensing to the Californian wine grape industry.

Other speakers come from the CSIRO, CSU, companies involved in developing the new technologies and vineyard managers who are users of the new technology.

The seminar will be opened by Dr Jim Hardie, the Chief Executive Officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture.

"This seminar is part of the CRCV's commitment to vineyard management to meet grape quality specifications", said Dr Hardie.

The seminar commences at 9 am at the Wine and Food Industry Training Centre, adjacent to the Charles Sturt University Winery.