Welcome to the Climate Profile, a feature brought to you by the North Tahoe chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby https://citizensclimatelobby.org/ which explores the stories of local citizens and how climate change has affected their lives.

As a long-term oenophile (lover or connoisseur of wine), I was delighted to talk to David Carter, co-founder and CEO of Deep Planet (https://www.deepplanet.ai/), a global Agri Tech startup that was born out of the vision of world class scientists and engineers from Oxford University. Dave founded Deep Planet with his Oxford MBA classmates, Sushma Shanker and Natalia Efremova, and now lives right here in Truckee. Dave, his wife, Sally and their two and nine-year-old sons, Austen and Flynn, relocated six months ago from Alameda. Dave has a background in mining, manufacturing, and oil and gas, including monitoring gas utility pipelines. In 2018, he decided to apply his skills and background to benefit the planet even more. The concept of Deep Planet was born when Dave and his co-founders received a grant from The European Space Agency (our version of NASA) with the goal to help agriculture adapt to climate change.

When I heard Deep Planet’s first customers were some of the finest winemakers in the world, I was hooked. Due to climate change and rising temperatures, there are no longer “normal years” in agriculture and due to the permeable nature of grapes, the timing of grape harvesting is changing rapidly, getting pushed either forward or back. As many of you may know, the harvesting of grapes is probably the foremost important step in winemaking and that’s where Deep Planet is making a tremendous impact. Dave grew up in Hunter Valley, Australia, and when he witnessed his friends in the winemaking world struggle with climate change, he knew he had to help. A fun fact with a touch of serendipity: I am currently studying viticulture and wines of the world and had literally studied the Hunter Valley region, world renown for the white grape, Semillon, the day before I met Dave. Naturally, I was thrilled to learn more!

Deep Planet has winery customers in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Argentina. They use artificial intelligence (AI), satellite imagery and weather data to help winemakers with harvest logistics. One of the most, if not the most, important step in harvest is measuring the sugar content of grapes, also called Brix. Done in the past by hand picking the grapes and tasting them, Deep Planet can measure Brix remotely via satellite. This impressive technology not only measures Brix, but also pH and TA (tartaric acid), all crucial components in a grape to monitor quality and ripening. The technology is so precise it can measure grapes on single vine or vines in a “block” or section of a vineyard. And the result? Deep Planet’s innovation helps winemakers pick the best quality fruit or grape. And you may have guessed by now—better grapes make better wine. Anyone thirsty yet?

Deep Planet also helps wineries become more sustainable, a crucial step in combatting climate change. Their technology helps vintners and farmers understand and test their soil, and measure nitrate, carbon, and water retention. Measuring and sequestering carbon is also an enormous part of combatting climate change and Deep Planet has a role here too, thus helping their customers, both farmers and vintners, make the change to regenerative farming.

Deep Planet is also involved in a project in Armenia. They are helping vintners there monitor and manage the pest Phylloxera. For those of you who want to learn a little about world and wine history, Phylloxera destroyed over 95% of the vines in Europe in 1860, and still exists today in parts of the world, and Deep Planet’s technology and AI helps with disease and pest control, crucial to vineyard health.

Deep Planet now has over 100 customers and their reach is way beyond wine. As I mentioned, they are helping orchards and farmers around the world with carbon measurement and sequestration. One important client is dōTerra Natural Oil. Dave pointed out to me, “Anyone who knows or uses essential oils knows dōTerra, one of the most important manufacturers of frankincense.” This oil comes from trees in the Boswellia family, and Deep Planet helps dōTerra measure their tree health, so they are sustainably farmed each year, and live 25 years or longer.

So, I guess you could say this innovative company is helping the planet, one grape, or one plant, at a time!

Celeste Leon is a local author, oenophile and physical therapist. She is media director of North Tahoe Citizens’ Climate Lobby. When not skiing, hiking or enjoying good food and wine with family and friends, one can find Celeste in the wine department of our local Grocery Outlet, where she manages a very popular wine club and helps customers choose wine, providing great stories and wine education.