Wine Australia's new program to support vineyard biodiversity

A new three-year $2.2 million regionally-based program will support winegrape growers to plant cover crops, enhance soil health and increase functional biodiversity in vineyards around the country.

Wine Australia says that the program, EcoVineyards, provides on the ground expertise to support growers to find the best solutions for their vineyards and promotes biodiversity. It will be rolled out to ten wine regions across four states this month.

Wine Australia General Manager Research, Development and Adoption, Dr Liz Waters, said, "The Australian grape and wine community is in the midst of a challenging period, but through this new initiative we’ll be providing regionally-specific and practical options for growers that will lead to improvements in sustainability and profitability."

The program includes new region-specific resources, an online information portal, 40 demonstration sites and on-the-ground support from local coordinators. It will be delivered by Retallack Viticulture in consultation with behavioural scientists Evidn.

“Extensive research has shown the value that planting cover crops and groundcovers has in the vineyard, particularly improving soil health and structure which provides a better foundation for grapevines. Biodiversity is also key to improving the resilience of our vineyards and can improve sustainability by minimising the need for pest and weed control, if you get the balance right," said Dr Waters.

Retallack Viticulture Managing Director, Dr Mary Retallack, said the program will demonstrate ways to create and maintain functional agroecosystems and enhance ecosystem services within Australian vineyards.

“By growing the resilience of vineyards using supplementary flora and enhancing soil health, it is possible to reduce the need for intervention – saving valuable time and resources," she said.

Dr Retallack says that ecological restoration provides habitat for beneficial fauna including predatory arthropods, microbats and insectivorous birds that contribute to biocontrol of insect pests in vineyards and is one of the key practices used to combat the effects of climate change.

She says, "It is possible to boost functional diversity by more than three times when native insectary plants are incorporated near grapevines."

More information on the new program is available here.