How Fresh Produce Group Is Moving Table Grape Irrigation From Reactive to Proactive
At Fresh Produce Group’s 275-hectare table grape operation in Mildura, irrigation management means dealing with very different soils, elevations and growing conditions. For Regional Table Grape Manager Daniel Grobler, connecting plant data, hydraulics and automation in one platform has changed how the team manages the vineyard every day.
Located alongside the Murray River, Mildura and the wider Sunraysia region are home to some of Australia’s most significant horticultural production.
It is also a highly variable growing environment.
“We’ve got a lot of different soil types and geographical differences in terms of sand, heavy clay soil, hills, and low areas where salinity can definitely be an issue,” explains Daniel Grobler, Regional Table Grape Manager for Fresh Produce Group.
Fresh Produce Group currently manages approximately 275 hectares of planted vineyard in the Mildura region, producing export table grapes in an area that is also home to stone fruit, citrus and almond production.
Managing irrigation accurately across that kind of variability requires much more than simply knowing when an irrigation was scheduled to begin.
Knowing what is actually happening in the irrigation system
Before adopting Phytech, one of the team’s biggest challenges was maintaining visibility over irrigation execution across the operation.
“Before adopting Phytech, our biggest challenges were definitely keeping on top of when irrigation shifts happened, how long they went for, and also the constraints in terms of certain valves not opening and closing,” Daniel says.
The ability to monitor both mainline and in-field pressure has given the team much greater visibility into what is actually happening after an irrigation command is sent.
“Being able to monitor mainline pressures and our in-field pressures on the blocks allows us to make more precise decisions on how and when we need to irrigate.”
That distinction is important. An irrigation schedule may say that water is being applied. Pressure data can help confirm that it is actually reaching the block as intended.
Connecting irrigation decisions directly to the plant
Hydraulic information is only one part of the picture.
Fresh Produce Group also uses Phytech plant sensors to understand how the vines themselves are responding.
“With the use of Phytech, we are more precision-based in our irrigation, with the added benefits of having plant dendrometers and sensors installed on the vines,” Daniel says.
“We can see when and what is the exact amount of irrigation needed to actually keep our plants functioning to the best possible potential.”
By combining plant response with irrigation and environmental information, the team can move beyond fixed schedules and make decisions based on what is happening in the vineyard itself.
Automation that still keeps the team in control
Phytech is also being used to automate parts of the irrigation and fertigation process.
“We are now able to automate our fertigation, understand the tank levels therein, and the ease of use is a big advantage.”
For Daniel, accessibility is an important part of that value.
“You can use it on your mobile device while out in the blocks, cancel any additional irrigations, extend them, and anyone has access to view them.”
That means the system becomes part of day-to-day farm management rather than information that is only reviewed after the fact.
Live pressure feedback provides another layer of operational control.
“Another big advantage of the automation is the fact that we get live feedback from our valve pressures, which we then relate back to our irrigation team.”
“If there is any loss of pressure due to filters or shifts being missed, we get notified immediately and they can correct it in the field.”
The result is a much shorter gap between a problem occurring and somebody on the farm being able to respond to it.
From reactive irrigation to proactive farm management
For Daniel, this has produced one of the most significant changes in the operation.
“Phytech is definitely embedded into our daily farm management.”
“It has changed our irrigation approach from reactive to actually being proactive, with a lot more accountability set on the daily operations.”
That move from reactive to proactive management is not simply about receiving more alerts.
It means giving irrigation teams visibility into whether the intended operation actually occurred, identifying exceptions quickly, and creating a shared source of information across the people responsible for the farm.
Replacing fragmented data with one holistic view
“Before Phytech, we had several platforms that we used to gather the information,” Daniel says.
Bringing those signals together has made the information easier to use across the organisation.
“Having a full holistic view, we’ve got ease of use and user-friendly operations.”
“It makes it easy for anyone, whether they’re out in the field on farm or whether they’re at home, to know exactly what is going on.”
That view includes more than irrigation alone.
The team can see “how the plants react, what’s happening to soil moisture, soil temperature, as well as ambient temperature within the block itself.”
Instead of different systems providing isolated pieces of the operation, the objective is to give the farm one connected picture of what is happening and what requires attention.
Precision, automation and AI
Daniel sees this type of connected farm management becoming increasingly important as agriculture evolves.
“The future of farming is precision, automation, and AI-driven.”
And his expectation for platforms like Phytech is equally clear:
“Platforms like Phytech will be central to managing risk, improving efficiency, and driving sustainable growth throughout the operation.”
For an operation such as Fresh Produce Group, that future is already becoming part of daily management: connecting what the irrigation system is doing, how the plants are responding and what the team needs to act on next.
Watch the full video to hear Daniel Grobler share how Fresh Produce Group is using Phytech across its Mildura table grape operation.
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