During this time of extreme cold many of us have been awakened by a propeller-like sound coming from the dark, frosty fields of the vineyards around us. With many newcomers to town we thought an easy and searchable resource might help explain the reason, and who better to help inform the discussion than Joe Pillitteri who knows a lot about the wine industry from all perspectives.
Joe, are wind machines necessary, and do all grape growers use them?
“Sadly, frost protection and extreme cold protection wind machines are a necessary part of farming not just in Niagara, but in any location susceptible to similar conditions. If you’ve ever travelled to Napa Valley, you would see that they are using the same machines there to guard against spring frost just like we do here.
Although different grape varieties have different cold, hardiness, and built-in protection against extreme weather, essentially 100 percent of our acreage at one point or another will need the use of an inversion layer of warm air to try and save a crop.
Are alternative technologies available, and if so what are they and will they be coming to NOTL anytime soon?
“There really are no existing technologies that compare to the effectiveness of wind machines. Helicopters would come closest, but that’s an extremely cost-prohibitive measure and also has limited capability to cover the acreage that would be required in a cold event. As a company we have investigated any new ideas at every trade show we have attended all over North America and Europe, but the verdict always comes back that wind machines remain the clear winner in terms of their effectiveness and cost.
It’s an important fact for people to remember that wind machines are a pure cost to farmers and wineries. They do not want to use them. Between maintenance, fuel, and labour to run and monitor machines a conservative estimate on how much they cost to run would be $150 an hour, and I can’t stress how conservative that is. The only benefit to spending that money is the survival of the crop for the farmer. No one is running these machines recreationally. They are test-run once every month or two but when it’s -23 degrees they have to run or we don’t have a crop and we don’t have a wine industry. At least not one that is sustainable.”
Why do you think people take to social media every winter asking if there are helicopters flying over their homes?
“I suppose there’s a ‘not in my backyard’ mentality that goes on everywhere in the world, but seems to be very prevalent in residential areas located in close proximity to farmland. I think it’s important to remember that the Greenbelt protects farmland ,which is a Catch-22 for farmers. They don’t have the option to sell their land for development; they must use it as farmland. When a landowner has no choice but to use their land in a certain way, they certainly have to make sure that they do everything in their power to allow their livelihood to survive and thrive. Wind machines allow that. I think the first machines were installed in Niagara in 2003 so this really shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody when we are forced to fire them up when the weather is the way it has been. I suppose complaining and commiserating are a coping mechanism for people, but I promise you the only people that want the wind machines to run less than them is the farmer who has to pay for them to run, and has to worry about their crop while they are running.
Having experienced both firsthand,, I can assure you that actual helicopters have a much more terrifying sound than a wind machine, and they have only ever been used on a very small percentage of farms. My suspicion is that you would need many more helicopters than would even be available to be effective against crop damage based on our acreage.”
Thanks Joe!
