How Satellites Are Helping Farmers Adapt to Global Warming

When to harvest is one of the most crucial decisions a winemaker can make. Too early, and the result is bitter. Too late, and it’s overly sweet. It’s a delicate balance—one that’s increasingly being upended by the climate crisis.

In France, global warming has been wreaking havoc on this ancient equation for some time. Wine-growing regions across the country have seen seasons truncated—the harvest date in the Châteauneuf-de-Pape appellation, one of the most prized, has moved up almost three weeks since 1960. Simultaneously, plant diseases are appearing in regions that have never seen them before, rain patterns are changing and ...