MK-V is Vital to S.M.A.R.T. Farming at NEOTEMPO

Artists rely on tools of the trade to bring their creativity to life. For vintners, that means mastering the craft of transforming nature, science, and art into wine. Kia Behnia, Co-founder, NEOTEMPO Wines and KIATRA Vineyard, has another special ingredient, Monarch’s MK-V tractor, the world’s first 100% electric, smart, and autonomous tractor. 

A big part of NEOTEMPO’s mission is to support innovation and sustainability in wine. I’m happy to report that in 2023 we used Monarch’s MK-V tractor exclusively for the entire season from seeding, mowing, weeding, and of course, the harvest.

Kia Behnia, Co-founder, NEOTEMPO Wines & KIATRA Vineyard

S.M.A.R.T Farming

While many modern farms employ variations of smart farming – a convergence of technology, intelligence, and agriculture for efficient operations and productivity – Behnia implements an advanced version of farming on what he calls S.M.A.R.T. farms, or Sustainable, Monitored, Automated, Resilient, and Technology-enabled. The MK-V, as an electric, autonomous tractor with advanced, Wingspan Ag Intelligence (WingspanAI) technology, is a perfect fit.  

Smart Thinking

NEOTEMPO Wines executes many S.M.A.R.T. farm use cases ranging from automated crop evaluation, minimizing inputs for pest and invasive plant control at its KIATRA estate vineyards, and emissions-free tractor operations. With WingspanAI, the MK-V tractor becomes the vineyard’s control center, providing a platform to gathering information and metrics for data-driven decision-making. Automated operations planning, remote fleet management, tractor performance reports, and maintenance diagnostics are just some of the efficiencies provided by Monarch’s technology.  

First season where our vineyard operations were 100% emissions free. Our grapes taste even better with no diesel fumes.

Kia Behnia, Co-founder, NEOTEMPO Wines & KIATRA Vineyard

Early Adopter

NEOTEMPO grapes are grown at KIATRA Vineyard, which was one of the early vineyards to test one of the MK-V demo units in 2021. Behnia liked what he saw and placed an order, receiving one of the first units built at Foxconn in Lordstown, OH.  

As an early adopter and customer partner, Behnia reports that Monarch helped his team in how to best use the tractor and provided critical software enhancements.  

Behnia recalls, “Like any new product there are things to improve and new features forthcoming, but we received great support from the Monarch team and look forward to using the autonomous capabilities more next season.”   

Monarch’s appreciation for our customers runs deep and we see them as important collaborators in bringing our mission to life. It’s only through the support from early customers like NEOTEMPO Wines that Monarch can help power ag’s transition to technology and operations that benefits farms and farmers, consumers, and the environment for a better food system and healthier planet. That’s a form of smart farming everyone can enjoy!