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Listen to the recordings from this half day event on how to save water and water efficiency in wineries and vineyards.
Thank you to our exclusive event sponsor Lallemand Plant Care.
Lallemand group decided in 2006 to put its knowledge and technological assets in microbiology and fermentation for the agricultural world. And so was born the Lallemand Plant Care business unit, which has since grown significantly through the acquisition of companies specializing in plant bio protection and bio fertilization.
Rob Whyte, Chief of Operations Officer at Renteria Vineyard Management will share new technologies to dial in the timing and amount of vineyard irrigation, with cost and quality gains with Sierra Minchaca, Climate & Soil Specialist at Napa Green.
Rob Whyte | Chief of Operations Officer at Renteria Vineyard Management
As the Chief of Operations Officer, Rob’s primary focus is on company-wide productivity and culture. Additionally, he also oversees the adaption and implementation of advanced vineyard technologies, irrigation and fertility programs, and the development of new vineyards. Rob is always looking for opportunities to grow and build on both company and client goals alongside managers, supervisors,
and field personnel. Rob’s commitment for producing high-quality fruit fuels his passion for looking into new technology and development for every vineyard.
Sierra Minchaca | Climate & Soil Specialist at Napa Green
Sierra was first captivated by the natural world with help from her grandfather who has grown the most spectacular garden she’s ever known. This inspiration developed into a career path in the field of natural resource management beginning in 2013 when Sierra first joined the City of Napa’s Recycling Division where she helped usher in city-wide composting residentially and in our schools. She worked this job while studying for her B.S. in Conservation & Resource Studies from UC Berkeley where she had the opportunity to take a course on Agroecology that shifted her direction into agriculture. She started with an 85-hour permaculture design course in Oakland that inspired a career shift into viticulture. After a diverse array of experiences, Sierra found a greater calling to return to the Napa Valley to work alongside leaders for climate resiliency. When she is not working with growers to help them achieve their climate action goals, Sierra devotes her time toward training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and petting every cat she encounters.
BlueMorph Demonstration: Alex Farren, CEO & Co-Founder of BlueMorph will demo their UV sanitation technology that has been used by wineries like Dominus Estate and Cakebread Cellars to eliminate chemical and water use for tank cleaning.
Alex Farren | Founder and Chief Science Officer of BlueMorph, Inc
Alex Farren is the Founder and Chief Science Officer of BlueMorph, Inc. a company that specializes in the design of UV light delivery systems to disinfect the interior surfaces of rooms, containers and other defined spaces. He has over 10 years experience and 19 patents issued on the delivery of targeted UVC dose to a surface irrespective of distance and material. He is now focused on the use of FarUV to provide people-friendly solutions that can be used more effectively in the battle against pathogenic microorganism. Ultraviolet light has the advantages of being a sustainable disinfectant, consuming no water and using no chemicals.
Ben Mackie | Vineyard Program Manager at Napa Green
For the past 15 years, Ben has been designing and implementing regenerative farming systems in a variety of ecosystems. A New Englander by birth, Ben fell in love with agriculture in the verdant fields of northern California in high school. Ever since, Ben has been managing farms, improving soils, and educating the next crop of environmental stewards with a holistic view of farming with natural systems. No stranger to Napa, he previously lived on Mt Veeder, where he fell in love with the oak and madrone woodlands and made friends with the local ravens. When Ben is not helping Napa’s vineyards adopt 21st century practices, he is spending time with his impressive wife and two wild children in the woods and on the water. Ben currently occupies Nisenan Territory and is a proud alumnus of Sterling College in Northeast Vermont, where he received a BA in Sustainable Agriculture.
Adam Koeppel | CEO of Agrology
Adam is the CEO of Agrology. His motivation is growing enough food to feed the future world. He focuses on discovering customer problems, developing products to solve them, and designing business models to get products in customers’ hands. While growing up in California, Adam enjoyed working in his godparents apple orchard and visiting many Central Valley farms during family road trips. He also experienced many droughts. This led to his interest in agricultural optimization and soil carbon respiration. Adam has experience at multiple early stage companies as well as corporate research labs. He worked on IoT connected cards at Capital One and has 48 granted patents and 69 applications under prosecution.
Eric Mayer | Co-Founder of Napachar
Eric Mayer earned a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Stanford, where he studied fluid mechanics and hydrology and published research improving global climate simulations. After graduating and desiring to have a more immediate effect on the climate crisis, Eric went to work for LightWater, a Florida-based biotechnology company focused on developing a scalable algal bioreactor to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. However, upon learning of biochar and the simple technologies already developed for its production, Eric became convinced that biochar held more immediate promise for scalable carbon capture and
storage, and Napachar was born. Today, you can find Eric and Napachar in the vineyards and forests of Napa and Sonoma, diverting pulled vines and forestry slash from burn piles to roast in their customized biochar kilns, returning the carbon to the soil.
Paul Muller has nearly 40 years of experience as an organic farmer at Full Belly Farms and is able to eloquently share a whole-systems view of soil health, plant health, and farm resilience in the face of a changing climate. In this Marquee address Paul will share a beyond industry perspective on taking a “life positive” approach to farming. He’ll paint a picture of life underground, the microbiome, and how that interplays with water and nutrient storage and plant availability. And he’ll share grounded stories about cutting-edge or initially “risky” practices he’s implemented or seen implemented over the years and the ultimate outcomes. Join us to see the whole landscape, including the socio-biome, through Paul’s eyes.
Regional megafires have prompted intensive work to reduce forest fire risk, and recovery is ongoing. But what role do healthy forests play in groundwater recharge and heated debates about groundwater sustainability? How can fire fuel thinning and removing invasives help forests better survive fires, keeping trees alive and storing carbon? How can we make proactive forest management on private lands financially feasible, to reduce risk, protect carbon stores, and create a healthier watershed?
During this Salon Sarah Keiser, Dr. Tosha Comendant, Conservation Science Director with the Pepperwood Preserve, will share their work and research on forest stewardship, restoration, and fire recovery and the results they’ve seen for the water cycle. Chris Ott, Environmental Director for the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, will share their innovative forest fire recovery project, which has dramatically reduced treatment time and costs, and initial results for soil moisture, stream recharge, and unexpected benefits like suppressing invasives. Patrick Spencer, Executive Director of the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance, will speak to how climate change is impacting cork forests, Amorim’s Forest Intervention Project, and the role of the cork forest ecosystem in watershed health.
Sarah Keiser | Chief Executive Officer at Wild Oat Hollow
Sarah Keiser is an innovative community builder. Through her vision and leadership, she develops and implements community grazing cooperatives, collaborative land stewardship for more resilient communities.
Under the banner Wild Oat Hollow, LLC, Sarah’s community-based, sustainable land stewarding concepts empower private landowners and public entities with the skills and support to use grazing ruminants, planned burns and community education to steward their land and commons to a healthy fire ecosystem.
As we continue to see large, annual wildfires in California and throughout the west, Sarah has expanded her collaboration to policy makers, fire marshals, Cafire and Indigenous Fire Ecologists to build out regional land stewardship projects.
Dr. Tosha Comendant, | Conservation Science Director at Pepperwood Preserve
Dr. Comendant is a conservation scientist with over 15 years experience developing innovative methods, visualization tools, databases, and science-based solutions that increase knowledge-transfer, enhance stakeholder engagement, and inform natural resource management decisions. She is a Napa Valley native and completed her doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. She joined Pepperwood as the Conservation Science Manager in 2017 where she conducts and manages complex research projects, supports monitoring and restoration initiatives, and cultivates impactful cross-sector partnerships. Additionally, she serves on the boards of the Napa Valley Watershed Information and Conservation Council, the Society for Conservation GIS, and the Steering Committee of the Conserved Lands Network Science Expansion.
Chris Ott | CEO at Eaton Drilling | former Environmental Director at Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians
Mr. Ott is currently the CEO of Eaton Drilling Co LLC overseeing the transformation of the company from solely extraction based to a total water management company respecting the full water cycle. Previously, Mr. Ott managed Public Works and Environmental planning activities for the Dry Creek Rancheria. He developed and managed projects to restore both aquatic and terrestrial habitats for endangered species in the Russian River watershed. These activities have included projects to facilitate fish passage for migratory salmonids, restoration of riparian habitats and eradication of invasive flora, reduction of forest fuel loads using innovative natural processes in line with Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Methods. He implemented a wildfire mitigation plan that was instrumental in minimizing effects from the Kinkaid Fire and has successfully managed several large-scale grants for planning and implementation including complex permitting of restoration activities. Mr. Ott currently serves on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Northern California Resource Partnership, is involved with the Steering Committee for the Russian River Confluence and manages special projects for the Tribe such as an On-farm Groundwater Recharge project funded through the DWR FloodMAR program.
Patrick Spencer | Executive Director at Cork Forest Conservation Alliance
Patrick Spencer received his BS in Environmental Sciences from Central Connecticut State University. He has spent his professional career promoting the “triple bottom line”, a business concept that posits firms should commit to measuring their social and environmental impact—in addition to their financial performance—rather than solely focusing on generating profit. He is the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization the, Cork Forest Conservation Alliance, whose primary mission is to preserve and protect the Mediterranean cork forests and their inhabitants. Patrick is currently serving a four-year term on the Forest Stewardship Councils, International Board of Directors, representing the Environmental North Chamber.
Lallemand Plant Care | Anne Favre
Lallemand group decided in 2006 to put its knowledge and technological assets in microbiology and fermentation for the agricultural world. And so was born the Lallemand Plant Care business unit, which has since grown significantly through the acquisition of companies specializing in plant bio protection and bio fertilization.
Agrology | Holly Nuss
Agrology is a leading climate tech start-up and Public Benefit Corporation with a mission to help farmers adapt to and beat climate change with real-time analysis and predictive insights. The Agrology platform consists of climate and carbon monitoring systems, both based on ground-truth data and machine learning. The Agrology Climate Monitoring System delivers predictive insights and warnings, up to three days in advance, for wildfire smoke taint, extreme weather, soil conditions, pest and disease emergence, and irrigation. Agrology’s Carbon Monitoring System tracks soil carbon sequestration in real time, quickly detecting carbon loss via carbon dioxide emission events. Agrology customers include Braga Fresh, The Duckhorn Portfolio, Boisset Collection, Dana Estates, Emeritus Vineyards, Jordan Vineyards and Winery, Joseph Phelps Vineyards, Langtry Farms, Lawrence Vineyards, Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, Renteria Vineyard Management, Signorello Estate, Silver Oak Vineyards, and numerous specialty farms. Agrology is the winner of two highly selective National Science Foundation SBIR Awards, a 2023 WINnovation Award, and is a recipient of a USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant. Agrology has offices in Alexandria, Virginia, and Sonoma, California, and can be found online at Agrology.ag.
Arable | Masha Crichton
Arable, the leader in crop intelligence, advances digital agriculture globally. Forward-thinking agribusinesses, vineyard operations, and food and beverage companies use Arable to be more productive, sustainable and profitable. Arable’s intuitive IoT-based solution combines reliable in-field weather, forecast, plant, soil and irrigation data with advanced modeling and machine learning to deliver real-time, actionable insights into the entire crop system. Arable helps customers in more than 30 countries optimize water use, crop protection, fertilization, field work, research trials, food supply chains and sustainability initiatives.
BioFiltro | Sarah Haupt
BioFiltro is a Davis, CA based firm providing nature-based wastewater solutions for wineries. Our worm powered wastewater system targets and reduces BOD5, TSS, and Total Nitrogen from the waste stream and delivers water apt for reuse within an energy efficient four-hour process. We offer containerized solutions for boutique wineries or custom designs for larger clients. Our systems deliver water compliant with the state’s new winery waste discharge requirements (WDR) while converting the nutrients into worm castings, a nutritious soil amendment that wineries can apply to their vineyard to improve crop yield and soil health.
BlueMorph | Alex Farren
BlueMorph Waterless Tank Sanitation System is a UV-based technology that provides the first truly effective and environmentally-friendly method of sanitizing vessels and containers without the use of chemicals. Customers benefit from over 80% reduction in water use, no chemicals to dispose of, lower electricity use compared to other sanitizing methods and safe and easy operation.
Epic CleanTec | Chelsea Wolff
Napa County wineries understand the important role water takes in their operations. Climate change events, drought and new wastewater discharge regulations have forced wineries to think more strategically about how they use their water. Epic Cleantec offers a wholistic and sustainable approach to wastewater management that includes onsite reuse, water use data curation, integration of process control systems with flowmeters, and automated water quality reports to provide any winery with a complete picture of key water metrics to reduce risk and monitor sustainability targets. Epic Cleantec is focused on taking the waste out of wastewater and helping wineries build a more water resilient operation. For a new perspective on water reuse, visit epiccleantec.com.
HotSpot AG | Steven Soares
HotSpot AG is a farm management tool, developed to simplify irrigation and help growers comply with ever-changing regulations. Created by a fourth-generation farm family, HotSpot AG is engineered to solve the problems farmers face in real time with an interface that is accessible by any smartphone, tablet, or computer. From these devices, you can monitor aspects such as flow, pressure, filter, soil moisture, incoming power usage, well level, reservoir level, pump status, along with current weather conditions such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature and humidity, solar radiation, and rain collection. With HotSpot Ag, you can also control the opening and closing of valves, turn on and off pumps and engines used to power pumps and wind machines, and inject fertilizers with their top-of-the-line fertigation system. All control functions can be remotely used at the touch of a button or scheduled for future use with HotSpot Ag’s intuitive and easy to use scheduling tool. With three California locations and supporting over 100 ranches in 17 different counties, HotSpot Ag has a way to fill the monitoring and/or automation needs of all growers.
Lumo Ag | Bennett Fitzgibbon
Lumo is a smart irrigation solution that helps growers save water, improve crop quality and reduce costs. Smart valves with built-in sensors provide automation, accountability and digital record keeping to give growers unprecedented visibility into the health of their irrigation network. Learn more by visiting lumo.ag
Napa Green | Megan Scott
Napa Green is a global leader in sustainable winegrowing, setting the highest bar for sustainability and climate action in the wine industry. Napa Green facilitates systematic soil to bottle certification for wineries and vineyards, and provides the resources, tools and connections to continuously level up leadership. In 2021, Napa Green was the first sustainable winegrowing program in the world to redevelop Vineyard certification standards to focus on climate action, regenerative carbon farming, and social equity. In 2022, Napa Green and community partners launched a first of its kind, six-event Climate & Wine Symposium (Napa THRIVES now RISE) with over 65 speakers and 600 total guests.
