Project Deliverables

Project Deliverables

Collection of practical information on main threats affecting vineyard soils in the study area and across Europe is necessary before the implementation of the type B actions. This information will be collected in sub- actions A1.1 and A1.2 in a short time at the beginning of the project and will be used both during the project and after the project end (as technical documents), without requiring further work.

 

A preparatory action will be also necessary to establish and organize stakeholder groups operating during the project (sub-action A1.3)

The standard floor management strategy adopted by grape growers in the study area mostly relies upon tillage and there is poor management of vineyard surrounds (headlands, border and remnant vegetation, land unsuitable to grapevine growing), which result in severe soil erosion, progressive decline in organic matter, local and diffuse contamination, sealing, compaction, deterioration in biodiversity, and landslides.

Objectives of Action B1 are:

- definition of solutions for improving soil health in the whole viticultural system (i.e., vineyard floor between vines, in the vine row, and in headlands around vineyard blocks) and revegetation of remnants and buffer zones;

- implementation of these solutions in an innovative Decision tool able to guide grape growers at: i) defining their specific soil and related environmental problem(s); ii) selecting the best solution(s) for addressing them;
iii) self-evaluating the results after implementation of the solution(s); and, finally, iv) maintaining the results obtained.

- production of both traditional supports (e.g., booklets and flowcharts) and a new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) based tool for the use of the Decision tool.

The involvement of local stakeholders with a participatory and promotional approach is a priority of SOIL4WINE. The application of innovative models for sustainable agriculture needs active participation of local community, low scale producers and farmers in the management of the territory. The local community contribution is necessary to create local identity, to support development and social cohesion and also to maintain the cultural and natural resources it depends upon. Furthermore, local communities, in order to preserve their natural assets, are able to adapt their activities to the environmental and social changes.

All stakeholders involved will perform their activities totally or partially within the 4 protected areas of Parma and Piacenza territory, which represent the study area of SOIL4WINE. These 4 parks are managed by EGPB.

Objectives of action B3 are:

- promote new participation and promotional approaches for stakeholder involvement able to: i) ensure the real needs of the stakeholders are met; ii) ensure the proposed innovation (i.e., Decision tool) is feasible and effective; iii) increase the acceptance rate of the proposed innovation; iii) increase the future exploitation of the project results; and iv) ensure replicability and transferability across Europe;

- coordinate the activities of the three stakeholder groups, created within sub-action A1.3

- increase the awareness of stakeholders about soil-related problems in the viticultural areas and increase their ability to face and solve them effectively;

- create local agreements and regional partnerships about soil, biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The Decision tool developed in Action B1 will be tested in vineyards to understand its strengths and weaknesses, and to demonstrate to farmers its usability and the advantages rising from its use. This action is crucial to ensure the Decision tool fits the real needs of the farmers and for ensuring its acceptability after the project end.

Objectives of Action B2 are:

- demonstrating the use of the Decision tool for soil health improvement in 8 demonstration farms directly run by the “demo farmers” group and in the demonstration farm managed by HORTA;

- assessing the benefits rising from the use of the Decision tool by collecting specific information/data and farmer’s feedbacks;

- providing information for improvement and fine-tuning of the Decision tool.

This Action will consider cost-benefit effects of the adoption of the proposed soil management (SM) innovations for both farmers and community as positive externalities arising from an improved SM. Positive externalities will be quantified in terms of ecosystem services (ES) in order to develop new policy tools aiming at supporting the new positive behaviors in SM, both from the wine value chain and the public sector.

The Action will also support an innovative mechanism for integration of soil conservation and soil ES into regional policies and in possible public-private partnerships as a method to ensure long-term, sustainable financing of soil conservation/protection practices and ES provision. Transferability of project solutions to other sectors than the wine industry will be assessed.

Action main objectives are:

- study of socio-economic conditions affecting SM

- evaluation of socio-economic effects of project on the wine value chain and on local development

- assessment of soil ES in the study area

- definition of innovative soil conservation policies

- assess the replication and transfer potential of proposed tools to other sectors than the wine industry

This action is aimed to measure and assess the environmental and socio-economic impacts of SOIL4WINE project.

The objectives of action D1 are:

- to inform citizens on the existence of the project and its goals;

- to allow transfer and replication of the methodology developed and applied in the project to other wine regions in Europe;

- to disseminate the knowledge created, collected and adapted by project activities to a large audience of wine industry stakeholders.

ACTION E: Project management