Sustainable growing - organic, biodynamic, alternative management
With a warm and dry climate, the Riverland region is well suited to organic or sustainable production. Many growers who consider themselves “conventional” producers now rely on soft fungicides such as copper and Sulphur as the base of their programs. The popularity of organic and biodynamically – produced food and wine is increasing worldwide, and some Riverland growers have successfully made the conversion to sustainable production models with some brilliant wines gaining recognition nationally.
The national program for managing sustainable production is administered by the AWRI and a there is a link below. This is a rapidly evolving space, and some of the links below will provide a good basis for further research for interested growers.
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia – information page (AWRI)
https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/sustainable-winegrowing-australia/
Practical
Vineyard Biodiversity (Wine Australia, links)
https://www.wineaustralia.com/growing-making/vineyard-management/biodiversity
Australian Wine carbon calculator (AWRI, link)
https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/sustainable-winegrowing-australia/carbon-calculator/
Alternative weed control measures for Vineyards (fact sheet)
https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/1158315/Alternative-weed-control-measures-for-vineyards.pdf
Water and energy savings from mulch in vineyards (AWRI)
https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/yalumba-mulch-case-study.pdf
Weed control options for commercial organic vineyards (Toby Bekkers) – Wine and Viticulture Journal article
http://www.tobybekkers.com/uploads/5/4/3/2/5432540/bekkers-julyaug11wvj.pdf
Weighing up the alternatives to chemical weed control – Grapegrower and Winemaker article
https://winetitles.com.au/weighing-up-the-alternatives-to-chemical-weed-control/
Technical
Vineyard Biodiversity and Insect Interactions – Final Report (Retallack Viticulture) – very detailed and comprehensive report
https://www.wineaustralia.com/getmedia/fba82be2-ae5d-4b18-a59e-1129854199ac/Rmjr0811VineyardBiodiversityandInsectInteractionsBookletFINAL