Effects of Viticultural Mechanization on Working Time Requirements and Production Costs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to empirically estimate machine and labor costs for mechanization of viticultural processes and to assess the relative effect of mechanization options on viticultural costs. By identifying three external factors that determined the degree of optimal mechanization of three major viticultural processes, we developed a systematic typology of 12 unique vineyard types. To estimate the effects of the factors and processes on production costs, we analyzed the variance of more than 3400 single working time records of five German wine estates across three years with fixed and random effects. Mechanization of general viticultural processes, harvesting, and pruning strongly affected viticultural costs. Minimal pruning provided a cost savings potential of 58% for vineyards that permitted mechanized harvesting. Very steep slopes suffered significant cost disadvantages of up to 164% that could only partially be compensated by mechanization. We identified opportunities for wine producers to improve their economic profitability by increasing viticultural mechanization. The methodological framework developed can be applied to other wine regions with different cost settings and the analysis of big data sets from digitalization of viticulture. The results can aid wine producers and policymakers to choose cost-efficient viticultural systems and provide benchmarks to compare labor intensity.