Specialized machinery for vineyards: four days instead of a month of work

The scientific and practical seminar “Day of Modern Viticulture Technologies” was held in the Odesa region at the premises of the “Kolonist” winery. Its founder and owner, Ivan Plachkov, presented viticulturists and winemakers from the southern districts of Odesa region with a specialized Italian complex for vineyard maintenance.

The regional event gathered nearly sixty local producers united by a common goal – to grow quality grape clusters and produce fine wine from them. During the seminar, the plantations of TM “Kolonist”, together with representatives of Smartagro in UA, showcased a modern specialized equipment complex for vineyard cultivation.

Machinery of the Carraro and Orizzonti brands – tractors and mounted implements – has already been tested on “Kolonist’s” fields. According to Ivan Plachkov, the complex has proven itself very well, significantly improving vineyard care processes. Just as importantly, it has replaced manual labor with mechanized, well-calibrated operations. Calculations at the enterprise showed that in just four days of work, a single tractor operator using specialized equipment completed tasks that previously required dozens of people working manually for nearly a month.

Precision Work with Carraro Tractors

“Viticulturists were able to see the specialized Carraro tractor in action, whose key feature is its proper transmission system. It offers numerous speed options, which is especially important during topping operations: the slower the tractor moves, the more precisely the process can be controlled, resulting in higher-quality topping,” explained Ivan Plachkov.

As seminar participants witnessed, unlike a conventional tractor, this model is lightweight, reduces track depth, and therefore places less stress on the soil, preserving its ability to absorb water and air. Given that each season the machine passes through each row 20–30 times, its weight becomes a critical factor for orchards and vineyards.

Usually tractors are compared by horsepower, but in vineyards and orchards power is less important than precision. This is ensured by a specialized hydraulic system. In this tractor it is extremely powerful – 100 liters per minute. By comparison, analogues typically deliver 18–25 liters per minute. Why is this crucial? The hydraulic system powers the mounted vineyard implements: the stronger the hydraulics, the more efficient the machines. This is the defining feature of specialized vineyard tractors.

Another significant advantage is the pressurized (amulgated) cab, which effectively protects the operator from exposure to chemical agents during spraying.

Vineyard Implements: Demonstrations in Action

The seminar showcased various implements and attachments. Among them:

• Topping machine – removes shoots from vineyards.

• Shark chisel cultivator – levels the soil after operations and, thanks to the large rear drum, provides stability to the tractor + cultivator unit.

• Inter-vine cultivator with multiple attachments – five of them are already in use at “Kolonist,” each significantly accelerating vineyard care.

Examples include:

• A knife with a sensor for treating the vine base, cutting weed roots and preventing their regrowth.

• A plough that removes surface roots up to 25 cm deep, ensuring the plant receives essential microelements from deeper soil layers.

• “Cult” disks that allow for high-speed removal of small weeds – a relatively new technology already used in Italy and France.

Other tools demonstrated included:

• Brooms – used several times a year to sweep leaves from between vines into the row middles after topping or other operations.

• Suckering machine – removes young shoots emerging from the trunk base or middle, which can hinder proper vine development.

This innovative equipment performs operations quickly and effectively, enabling more frequent pruning and ultimately improving crop quality.

Innovation and Tradition Hand in Hand

“All that remains is to harvest the crop – which we still do by hand – and to properly prune the vines in autumn, where people are also indispensable,” noted Ivan Plachkov.

The scientific and practical seminar for producers is just one of many initiatives offered to viticulturists. Sharing innovations is becoming a good tradition in the industry. The southern Odesa region concentrates the largest areas of vineyards. To produce commercial batches of uniform, high-quality, competitive products, local farmers – many of whom have been engaged in viticulture and winemaking for generations – are now uniting around modern technologies.

Since the specialized vineyard equipment showcased at the “Kolonist” winery is unique and capable of maintaining large areas of vines, local growers showed strong interest in integrating it into their own operations. They emphasized that modern technologies not only solve the problem of vineyard care but also increase the capitalization of their enterprises.