Towards an agroecological viticulture: advances and challenges
Abstract
To improve its sustainability, viticulture should increase the provision of ecosystem services to decrease its use of inputs and the resulting environmental impact while maintaining high socio-economic performance. Soil functions in relation with their physical, chemical and biological properties can be regulated by proper soil surface management. Cover crops deliver ecosystem services such as protection of soils, better water infiltration and nitrogen fixation. Yet to avoid trade-off between provision of services and production of grapes, the management of cover crops should adapt to climate variations and to the yield objective. Pest and diseases can be regulated by various technical levers, including the control of the grape vegetative development. The assessment of damages due to pests and disease and of their consequences on yield losses is a key component of the design of alternative strategies of crop protection. This knowledge provides clues for designing management strategies with low pesticide use and high agro-ecological performance. A French national network of experiments has quantified the reduction of pesticide use with decision support systems, biocontrol or resistant varieties. To go further the challenge is now to design agroecological vineyards that combine innovations in management, and also in spatial organization at field, farm and landscape scales.
Issue: GiESCO 2017
Type: Extended abstract
Format: Oral
Authors
1 Inra, UMR System, F-34060 Montpellier, France
2 Montpellier SupAgro, UMR System, F-34060 Montpellier, France
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Keywords
viticulture, ecosystem services, soil management, crop protection, diversity