Protecting climate with soil

Intelligent soil treatment promotes biodiversity  

In the permanent crop vineyard, the aim is to increase biodiversity by planting greenery. This is already being implemented by winegrowers who manage their vineyards organically. Since climate change is accompanied by periods of water stress, new flowering mixtures are in demand. This is where the winegrowers invest in order to promote biodiversity. Doing so means higher costs for the winegrower and requires the corresponding know-how. In addition to promoting biodiversity, the sowing of flowering mixtures is intended to promote soil life so that soil fertility regenerates naturally and quality is increased. Planting vegetation that is appropriate to the site has the following effects

 - shading of the soil
 - good root penetration of the upper soil layer as an erosion control measure
 - better water storage of the soil
 - continuous and targeted nutrient supply

In order to achieve these goals, a lot of knowledge and experience is required. It is of great importance how the greenery is worked and managed, so that on the one hand biodiversity is promoted, but on the other hand the nutrient input is not washed out into the groundwater with the next rain.

Humus shapes the terroir

Another effect is that greenery continuously provides the soil with organic matter and thus builds up humus. Humus is important for an intact soil life, for a diversity of microorganisms, which in turn brings a diversity of above-ground plants and also shapes the character of the terroir of a wine. This has recently been proven by scientific studies.

Humus binds climate-damaging CO2

Just as humus builds up the quality of wine, it is also able to prevent climate change to a large extent, because humus builds up and binds CO2 from the atmosphere. The awareness of this makes the use of soil as a resource even more important and speaks even more for a biodiversity-promoting cultivation of vineyards.