Agtech start-up Agtonomy is partnering premium Californian wine producer Silver Oak Cellars to collaborate on further development of climate sustainable smart farming technology. As part of the collaboration, Silver Oak Cellars will pilot Agtonomy’s environmentally driven smart farming technology TeleFarmer in its vineyards across California, starting in its Napa Valley vineyards

Silver Oak Cellars is a family-owned producer of Californian wine with its label having achieved cult status. It has vineyards in both Napa Valley and Alexander Valley. In 2016, Silver Oak’s Oakville winery became the first commercial winery in the world to earn the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Certification for efficient energy use; their Alexander Valley winery was also granted the certification in the “new building” category in 2018.

Based in South San Francisco and Sonoma County, Agtonomy is a hybrid autonomy and tele-guidance service platform with the venture backing of Alphabet’s GV, Toyota Ventures, Grit Ventures, and Flybridge among others. The platform aims to address the skilled farming labour shortage with autonomous equipment and increase agricultural output efficiency. The team includes veterans from Amazon, Apple, and Google.

Agtonomy’s software and tele-guidance technology, TeleFarmer, will support Silver Oak achieve greater sustainability in its farming practices. TeleFarmer consists of a suite of apps and an electric vehicle (EV) reference tractor. The technology is designed to allow specialty crop farmers to remotely manage and execute day-to-day farming tasks more efficiently and with more precision while keeping the farmer in control. TeleFarmer aims to help address labour shortages and reduce a farm’s overall carbon footprint.

The collaboration is part of Agtonomy’s paid pilot programme, aimed at helping specialty crop farmers overcome the challenges they face in the industry. Agtonomy has identified working directly with farmers as critical to its technology development from its outset. The company has focused its efforts on partnering with specialty growers in paid pilots, with a strong emphasis on swiftly transitioning towards broad-scale commercialisation. Agtonomy plans to expand its farming services utilising the TeleFarmer solution throughout California and beyond in 2023 and 2024. 

“We’re excited to be partnering with Agtonomy and utilising their TeleFarmer technology in our vineyards,” said David R. Duncan, CEO of Silver Oak. “Silver Oak is not known to be an early adopter but once I saw how far advanced Agtonomy’s solution was, I knew it could help us take our farming operations to even greater heights. As one of the most sustainable wineries in the world, we also appreciate Agtonomy’s shared philosophy in climate smart farming. Agtonomy’s farmer-first focus allows us to control our farming operations with advanced technology that will be game-changing in helping us meet our economic and environmental goals.”

“We are honoured to have Silver Oak join forces with us” said Tim Bucher, CEO and co-founder of Agtonomy. “They are one of the industry leaders in sustainable practices and will help us hone and take our TeleFarmer solution to the next level as we prepare to go to market. We believe this partnership with such a prestigious brand will demonstrate the impact and value of our solution to the industry.”