Behold: The Monarch - Ag's First Electric, Self Driving Tractor That Makes Organic Farming Even More Eco-Friendly

A new tractor just hit the market and it promises to revolutionize it with the same savvy as anything on Elon Musk's plate. 

For years I and many others have haunted viticulture equipment shows (including EcoFarm and Unified Symposium) looking for the electric tractor of our dreams. There have been minor forays into the category, but none had the power, versatility or intelligence to be the Holy Grail. 

That's all changed with the introduction of the new Monarch tractor, which debuted on local TV news this week. See the video news story here.

Organic wine growers were among the first to embrace the new Monarch tractor and with good reason. 

For all the details in text, visit WineBusiness.com to read the excellent article by my good friend Deborah Parker Wong on the story of its development and functionality. 

In the article, she writes:

"For winemaker Steve Matthiasson, who talked with the Monarch development team over the course of a few years providing input on functionality, said the realization of an etractor nullifies the most commonly levied argument against organic farming. Namely, objections to the carbon footprint generated by mechanical weed control." (Italics mine.)

The main complaint against organic versus using herbicides has been the carbon emissions of using a tractor to till (even minimally) under the vines. 

I asked Matthiasson if the Monarch can do the most delicate operation - tilling under the vine to clear out weeds - well. It works now, he said, and refinements are also coming.

"It’s normal tractor, so can use all of the regular under-vine tools, but they are working with Clemens to make a dedicated one that uses the tractor's computer and sensors to do an even better job undervine," he said. "That will come later."

The project began with Motivo, a 10 year old product engineering firm in southern California which spun off a newco, Monarch Tractor, in 2019 headed in part by a die hard wino dude - Carlo Mondavi. (Recognize the last name?)

Here's the beauty shot from the company's website. Is this not the sexiest photo of a tractor that you have ever seen?

Carlo Mondavi's profile describes him as an organic and biodynamic viticulture expert. (He was also a snowboarding champ.) In 2015, he went on to start his own winery, RAEN, with his brother Dante. The label, which keeps a low profile (they didn't want to be in Slow Wine Guide 2020, for instance, fearing visitors), specializes in small lot Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast. 

Photo: Jancis Robinson website

Carlo first fell in love with biodynamics on a tour of Europe's finest vineyards with his grandfather Robert Mondavi and his father Tim (of Continuum Estate) when he met the Leflaive family, one of the first families of BD in Burgundy. 

Three years back he started a new initiative, the Monarch Challenge, with A Big Idea - change the way people farm. His stated goals, initially, were (according to a Jancis Robinson article) "to rid Napa and Sonoma of all herbicides, especially Roundup and other glyphosates, so that they become a model of truly ‘clean farming’." It started with grapes, but quickly encompassed all of ag. 

Huzzah.

It turns out one of the most powerful ways to do that is technology. While Weed Slayer was The Great White Hope earlier this year, recent revelations have found, via testing, that clove oil based herbicide actually - shockingly - contained glyphosate (of that, more later). 

The Monarch is not just an electric tractor. No, it's both self driving AND an AI tractor. Self driving is a Great Big Plus in times of labor shortages and raging virus epidemics among Latino farm workers. (You're not hearing enough about this in wine country, but it's happening). 

You don't have to want to be organic to use this baby. But it is a huge help for those who are. It is a powerhouse precision ag tractor that has plenty of power, a tiny turning radius, and can use most of the devices for plowing and spraying that grape growers already use.

What is the advantage of being electric in terms of fuel? One of my curmudgeonly wine writer friends was at first critical of the new technology, writing to me in an email: "You may have to wait a loonng time for a wine made from grapes managed with a GREEN Monarch EVtractor. Wente tractors will draw electricity from PG&E grid and so will a one-year demo at CrockerStarr in St. Helena to charge a demo tractor from PG&E grid. Possibly the Scheid Family Wines ONE tractor in 2021 will charge from the winery Wind Power...

DEVIL in the Details Pam before promoting "green" attempts, but NOT "practical" reality."

But in fact, electric, even from the grid, IS better, as I pointed out to him in an email response. 

"Research by the European Energy Agency found that, even with electricity generation (italics mine), the carbon emissions of an electric car are around 17–30% lower than driving a petrol or diesel car. The emissions from electricity generation are also dramatically improved when low carbon electricity is used."

I pinged Matthiasson to see what electricity source he'll be using when his new Monarch arrives. "It will be grid for us, our solar panels feed back into the grid. We buy the MCE Deep Green 100% renewable power."

So just as you want to drive a Prius, I think - down the road - you'll want to drink more wine made with a Monarch. Wouldn't you? I can't wait to see new wine labels made that say 'Farmed with a Monarch'!