Domaine Tariquet is committed to a smart farming approach

Famous vineyard, Domaine Tariquet produces Côtes-de-Gascogne wines and Armagnacs. The family-owned company has been developing an innovative approach in recent years to improve the quality of its production while reducing its environmental impact. To achieve this, it has chosen to collaborate with Onepoint to lead a new stage of its digital transformation: smart farming. From experimentation to the organization of the start-ups working on the project, here’s a look at a collaboration based on trust and long-term goals.

A Project at the Heart of Domaine Tariquet’s CSR Approach

Vineyards are constantly seeking solutions to reduce their environmental impact and facilitate the management of their crops. Domaine Tariquet, located in Gers and owned by the Grassa family since 1912, naturally wanted to commit to responsible production through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach, with a significant environmental focus. To achieve this, Domaine Tariquet embarked on a “smart farming” initiative. One of the first steps in this approach is the reduction of pesticides on the 250 hectares of vineyard included in the SMART FARMING test area. This prioritization of CSR is also an opportunity for Domaine Tariquet to identify new vectors for innovation, optimization, and research related to its core business.

Implementing Relevant Innovations

Digital transformation is now a significant advantage for achieving sustainable farming practices already in use at Domaine Tariquet, and for enhancing its performance. As Armin Grassa, co-owner and Technical Director, explains: “Before technology intervention, we had to treat the entire plot when only part of it was affected by disease. Today, through mapping and data collection, we can limit treatments to the affected area only. It’s both economical and ecological.” To achieve this, Domaine Tariquet needed to bring in experts who would facilitate the coherence and integration of the project. “We turned to Onepoint for its ability to translate the various technical languages of the start-ups into one unified language. This allowed us to ultimately create the solutions and their common automations within a map of our vineyards.” Onepoint has been working with Domaine Tariquet for 5 years, initially focusing on cybersecurity and networking aspects. Two years later, the concept of smart farming emerged, initially on a small scale, before the need for coordination between solutions became imperative. Thanks to the existing collaboration and its expertise, Onepoint had the key skills to advise, coordinate, and successfully execute this innovative project.

Onepoint’s Comprehensive Support for Domaine Tariquet

Coordinating and Facilitating Stakeholder Collaboration with Ground Reality Several start-ups were identified to participate in the project, including Chouette Vision (vineyard monitoring with drones), Trimble (industrial connectivity solutions), and Promété (weather stations for farmers). Each had previously developed a solution addressing part of the objective. But it was necessary to develop and combine them with other tools to make viticulture smarter. To do this, it was important to ensure that they met the project’s specific requirements. Domaine Tariquet needed a partner to coordinate all the systems and facilitate collaboration between the start-ups. Onepoint was the natural choice for the Domaine Tariquet team, particularly due to the trust already established between the two companies. Thus, Onepoint, acting as a facilitator, relied on the start-ups’ capabilities and the data collected by the sensors to make them communicate. Their involvement also brought vision to the project and ensured technical coherence, both from a digital perspective—such as setting up the Datacenter architecture—and on-site through the tracking of achievements.

Moreover, the stakeholders do not work at the same pace and have different ways of operating. Onepoint is also there to help them maintain the rhythm so that things progress smoothly. “The reality of the field and its challenges.”

An innovative project on a French vineyard

This is how it became possible to develop both global and more precise solutions that did not exist before. Now, the tractors film the vines during their passage. These images are analyzed by algorithms that assess the health of the vines. Each analysis leads to an automation. Thus, based on the condition of each vine, the system adjusts the products, both in nature and quantity, to the exact location where the disease appears. In addition to providing effective tracking of the vines, this system limits the spraying of inputs to only the affected areas, not the entire vineyard. “Initially, we were already using 50% fewer plant protection products with more sustainable methods. These solutions now aim to reduce inputs by another 30%. At the same time, this reduction helps self-finance part of the project,” – Armin Grassa, Technical Director of Domaine Tariquet. Eventually, weather variables will also be incorporated into this evolving system. Currently, the indicators are being consolidated to produce work orders and automatic spraying rates. The system analyzes the data on its own, and corrections are made if necessary. “Subsequently, all this data enters data visualization to generate dashboards for monitoring and to identify new action paths if needed,” – Rémy Alonso, Onepoint consultant. In 2021, the pilot phase with 6 tractors was completed. By 2023, the scale will be increased, with plans to equip the entire fleet by 2025. In this sense, Domaine Tariquet continues to map its plots. Today, Onepoint continues to assist Domaine Tariquet in coordinating solutions and optimizing the data. This long-term collaboration is part of a team-oriented relationship aimed at the performance of smart farming.