Research and development:
do we do it all ourselves?
Climate change exposes the vineyard to heat waves, droughts, alternating with rainfall of devastating intensity; this requires a thorough review of all agronomic techniques in order to make the vineyard more resilient. Precisely for this reason, we are thinking about new vine training systems (free cordon to total spur, CLST, in collaboration with Terremerse) and new soil management techniques capable of making the vineyard more adaptable to changing climatic conditions.
To be able to give an answer to all this to the members with scientific seriousness Vitevis is interfacing with research organizations such as CREA -VE of Conegliano, the University of Padua, with the support of Cecat. In order to overcome the current challenges, it is increasingly crucial to monitor “in the vineyard” by combining the experience of Vitevis’ field technicians with what Artificial Intelligence gives: DSS i.e., decision support systems.
Vitevis therefore decided to implement a network of weather stations with the goal of having its members connected to them through an app that can give alert/risk signals: water stress, heat stress (from high and low and low temperatures) combined water and heat stress, and more. The Veneto Region CSR (Rural Development 23-27) also gave us food for further thought. Interfacing with Research Institutes we joined two research projects, presented and funded in which Vitevis appears to be a partner supporting its members: SOVANO and CONDIVISO.
- The SOVANO project aims to define a model of environmental sustainability for the Veneto grape-wine supply chain, in line with European goals of carbon neutrality to 2050. It aims to calculate indicators such as Carbon Footprint, Water Footprint and pesticide use, introducing innovations (e.g., use of drones) to reduce environmental impact. The results will also serve to improve transparency to consumers.
- The CONDIVISO (Competitiveness in Agricultural Enterprises through Sustainable Virus Defense) project focuses on grapevine virus diseases and their impact on plant physiology. CREA-VE will study the mechanisms by which viruses weaken grapevines to identify sustainable solutions, test already promising agronomic strategies on different varieties, and evaluate the reliability of diagnostic methods used to certify nursery material.
