Winegowers the world over are motivated to plant tightly-spaced vineyards for a variety of reasons but, the driving factors in the Eastern United States are the near-term attainment of quality and the long-term productivity. Just as vineyard architecture is benefiting from laser design technology and GPS tracking, automated vineyard practices continue to advance productivity and quality gains in vineyards of every scale. “It’s something I call the ‘tractor factor.’ Of all the constraints there are in the world of viticulture, the tractor should not be the primary factor when it comes to vineyard architecture,” confirms Lucie Morton, a Virginia-based international viticulture consultant who is well-known for translating the American edition of Pierre Galet’s seminal word, A Practical Ampelography. Complete article here The Tractor Factor