PRESS RELEASE
BRUSSELS, 11 December 2019 – Developing digital technology combines environment, societal demands and the dynamism of European regions’ viticulture.
Wine consumers want fewer chemicals. They demand more and more respect for the environment, more sustainable products, a strong link with the territory and tradition.
Beyond the environmental issue, global warming affects European regional viticulture in quantity and quality. The effect of the climate affects all European wines, especially wines with geographical indications, whose quality and reputation are linked to a territory.
To meet these challenges, digital technologies provide answers.
They allow players in the wine industry to better monitor and understand the production conditions of the vines and thus to make optimal choices by maximizing the environmental and economic benefits.
Studies with Farm Europe demonstrate the relevance of digital decision-making tools applied to viticulture to reduce the use of water, pesticides and fertilizers.
With these innovative techniques now well known in research and successfully applied on state-of-the-art farms, inputs have been significantly reduced in the Mediterranean area: pesticides -12; fertilizer -33; water -40 .
In order to fully disseminate these best practices in the European Wine Regions, AREV has decided to get involved in launching pilot projects in different member regions.
In addition to the actions that AREV will continue to take to stimulate debate at European level and to make this priority act in both CAP and the new European Green Deal, AREV will act alongside its partners to bring pilot projects to power and synergize them. It will accompany its member regions and voluntary winemakers in defining these pilot projects, mobilizing the necessary financial support and pooling experiences in order to accelerate the benefits that will be derived for European viticultures.
These pilot projects will act as rapid sequence multipliers at the territorial level and a network of pioneering regions for the digitization of viticulture will be organized.