Sustainable farming deserves recognition and when a farming family has been making a living off the land for more than a century and is looking ahead to the next 100 years, it’s the beauty of sustainability in action. Such are the efforts of the Gamble family, which has been nurturing its heritage through meticulous stewardship over its Napa Valley land, a region that holds some of the world’s most celebrated terroirs. Safeguarding the continuation of a legacy requires planning to meet and overcome the challenges associated with sustainable agriculture. Gamble Estates founder and vigneron, Tom Gamble, is doing just that.
For years, Gamble has been cultivating a respectful, reciprocal relationship with the land that has spanned decades of growing seasons. He brings generational wisdom to the vines and expert insights. When KPIX | CBS News Bay Area wanted to know how using AgTech AI can help a winery, reporter Brian Hackney put the spotlight on Tom Gamble. In turn, Gamble showcased his Monarch MK-V electric, driver-optional, and smart tractor.
Sustainable Agriculture Practices
Being entrusted with and caring for an ecosystem requires a holistic approach. Clean water, healthy soil full of organic matter, and unpolluted air work together to fortify resiliency, longevity, and high-quality crops. Environmental preservation and working to fulfill an evolving vision for the future is a Gamble family value. Tom Gamble’s mother helped establish the 1968 Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve and Tom Gamble works with climate resiliency initiatives such as Napa River Restoration.
Sustainability isn’t just good for the planet—it’s good for the grapes, the team, and the community. It’s about creating balance in everything we do.
Tom Gamble, Founder and Vigneron, Gamble Estates, Gamble Estates Website
AgTech Tractor at the Crossroads
Just as sustainable agriculture practices connect yesterday with tomorrow, California’s Bay Area bridges the worlds of technology and wine. Monarch’s MK-V occupies a prominent spot in this four-way intersection, which propelled Tom Gamble to deploy one on Gamble Estates in 2023.
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Tom Gamble brings more than 100 years of family farming history into the future. This is not his grandfather’s tractor.
Brian Hackney, Science Reporter, KPIX CBS News Bay Area on the segment, Napa Valley Winemakers Embrace AI Tractors
Smart Choices Yield Savings
In the segment, Gamble describes himself as an “inveterate tinkerer,” a characteristic he brings to his sustainable agriculture practices. He takes what’s tried and true and makes it better. Given that the MK-V is a re-imagined version of a conventional tractor, it was a natural attraction for Gamble.
“Like we have smartphones, this is a smart tractor,” Gamble says. He likes the MK-V’s driver-optional capability with Row Follow™, which keeps the tractor centered in a vine row automatically. Gamble uses both manual and Row Follow's hands-free mode.
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This is where it gets interesting and the work begins. We’re now in Row Follow. ‘Look ma, no hands!’
Tom Gamble, Founder and Vigneron, Gamble Estates on the segment, Napa Valley Winemakers Embrace AI Tractors
Gamble Estates has been using its MK-V for two full growing seasons. When Hackney asked if the electric tractor was doing everything Gamble expected it to do, the answer came quickly.
It’s doing more of what we expected it to do!
Tom Gamble, Founder and Vigneron, Gamble Estates on the segment, Napa Valley Winemakers Embrace AI Tractors
Hackney explains that using GPS and 5G technology the MK-V uploads data to the cloud so Gamble’s team can download and analyze it. This is facilitated by Monarch’s Wingspan Ag Intelligence (WingspanAI™) technology.
According to Gamble, the MK-V tractor is saving his farm about 40-50 tons of carbon emissions per year, an important action item in protecting regional and global air quality. He also reports $10K-$12K savings annually in fuel costs.
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Bottom line, we’re farmers and we have to be conscious of cost. That’s a big savings and a big contribution to the environment.
Tom Gamble, Founder and Vigneron, Gamble Estates on the segment, Napa Valley Winemakers Embrace AI Tractors
Because the tractor is smart, it can also improve over time through software and firmware updates, even after purchased. Monarch just announced a new feature, its first “digital implement,” in partnership with Scout, an AI-supported precision viticulture data platform. Now farmers like Gamble can get high-resolution, vine-level data while running routine operations like mowing. Gamble points out that early detection means better prevention.
Labor Concerns
Labor is one of the challenges associated with sustainable agriculture practices and conventional operations. Because the MK-V makes mowing more affordable, it can reduce a farm’s herbicide use, which is safer for the operator. And an electric tractor eliminates toxic diesel fumes. Gamble predicts sophisticated AgTech machinery like the MK-V will make tractor drivers more highly trained, highly skilled, and highly paid.
Gamble’s enthusiasm reveals his interest in advancing everything on Gamble Estates, from sustainable agriculture practices to worker well-being. Congratulations to Tom Gamble and Gamble Estates for receiving much-deserved recognition from KPIX | CBS News Bay Area!
