Mitigation measures and Best Management Practices
At the start of the project, most of the farmers that are members of Vicobarone winery, already cultivate the grapes following regional guidelines on IPM (Integrated Pest Management), “grapevine integrated control”, which imply:
- Buffer zones near the water bodies,
- Use of an equipped area to clean the machinery and the recovery of waste water
- Use of pesticides stockage zone and written reporting on all the used treatments. However, most of the “small” grape producers (less than 5 ha of vineyards) and the grape producers that are not partners of the “social” wineries do not use these mitigation measures.
WaterProtect aims to determine the real vineyards contribution to the general contamination of Val Tidone catchment ground water by nutrients and PPPs and increase uptake of measures.
Cantina Vicobarone, in Tidone catchment, is following a sustainability program: the V.I.V.A Program of the Italian Ministry of the Environment, which puts the focus on all the steps of the wine-making process to minimize its environmental impact.
Based on footprints benchmark achieved in the last years Cantina Vicobarone was ceritified as sustainable winegrowing winery.
The WaterProtect Actionlab leader in Italy and their partners are evaluationg all the available best management practices (BMP) and the most relevant for the vineyard.
All BMPs will be evalueted for use. There are three decontamination systems under evaluation for a future implementation in demo-farms: heliosec, osmofilm, biomassbed, which represent measures that allow to deliver good water quality.
The best practices and improvement planning expect:
- Use of organic fertilizers and green manure, reduction of energy, water and soil consumption
- Integrated Pest Management
- Spray drift reduction technologies
- Education, training and sustainable programs for wine producers (guidelines in V.I.V.A project)
- Buffer strips and risk mitigation measure to protect pollinators and biodiversity
- Decision supporting systems
- Adapted soil management: erosion control
- Cost-effectiveness data: ARPAE-ER will develop an indicator for cost of the drinking water quality protection
