PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The main wine producing European countries, Italy, France and Spain, have been facing difficulties linked to severe droughts. These are detrimental to both grape yield and wine quality on the one hand and result in a more intensive demand of water for irrigation on the other. Moreover. It has to be considered the limited resources for irrigation supply in the named areas. Consequently, vineyard ecosystems resilience needs to be improved, in particular in case of concurrent meteorological drought and water scarcity. The current reduced resilience, associated with lack of knowledge on water-grapevine relations and on why, how and when a significant water stress develops in the vineyards, is sometimes causing crop and land abandonment as well as several environmental issues. In two large Italian grape-growing districts, located in Lombardy (Oltrepò Pavese) and Emilia-Romagna regions, the concern for meteorological droughts and water scarcity is rising in frequency.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the DRIVE LIFE project was to provide the wine sector with a new strategy for the assessment and improvement of vineyard resilience to droughts. The project beneficiaries tested and demonstrated this approach on 6 pilot farms in two Italian grape-growing districts ("Oltrepo' Pavese" and "Colli Piacentini").
The specific objectives of the project were to:
- Develop an innovative Monitoring Tool (PocketDRIVE) for the assessment of the natural water stock in soils and of the seasonal rainwater consumption, to guide farmers in addressing water supply issues;
- Test the Monitoring Tool PocketDRIVE in demonstration vineyards prone to summer drought in order to increase water storage and improve the use of natural water resources. In parallel, the project team tested agriculture practices suitable for improving the efficiency of rain water use as well as the tolerance of vines to water, heat and light stresses;
- Define the effects of water-resilient management practices on vines performance, environmental footprints of the wine sector and related ecosystem services;
- Valorise the quantified environmental benefits through market-based tools (payments for ecosystem services, public and private incentives for the reduction of water footprint, eco-labels, etc. ) for farmers and wine producers; and
- Promote a new participatory approach for the involvement of stakeholders and develop market opportunities for the know-how on the water consumption of soils in vineyards.
The project contributed to the implementation of the following EU policies: Soil Thematic Strategy (COM(2002) 179 and COM(2006) 231), Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), and the Communication Addressing the challenge of water scarcity and droughts in the European Union (COM/2007/0414).
RESULTS
The project has achieved the following results:
- Creation of water deficit maps of the project areas (Oltrepò Pavese and Colli Piacentini) for five vine cultivars.
- Design, setup and calibration of a “Monitoring Tool” (MT), the PocketDRIVE app, to guide growers in the self-assessment of soil water holding capacity, real time tracking of vines water use and interpretation of possible drought issues. This includes the development of a protocol for the acquisition of canopy architecture and foliage density data through a mobile app.
- Implementation of the water resilience practices in six demo vineyards over three growing seasons. The selected techniques included green manure, "mid-row" mulching, "under the row" mulching, and distribution of kaolin on canopies.
- Reports on effectiveness of resilience strategies for the improvement of vineyard efficiency as per use of rainwater, improved soil characteristics and reduced GHGs emissions.
- Certified water footprint for three farms, evaluation of four ecosystem services provided by soils after the implementation of the DRIVE LIFE techniques in three farms and three feasibility studies on market-based instruments for the banking, insurance and eco-labels sectors.
