The dramatic effects of the Arctic cold that has invaded Europe these days highlight the need to implement concrete measures of the new CAP for a sustainable future of the wine sector.
This week will remain engraved in the memory of many winegrowers the vain struggle against the temperature drops of up to -9ºC that have hit the vineyards in full bud break in Central Europe, mainly in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Northern Italy, and that have damaged up to 100% of the vineyards due to frost.
At this point, it is now useless to lament the damage caused. It is time to learn the lesson of this frost episode and take into consideration the need to put in place much more efficient systems to protect winegrowers against the increasingly important and devastating climatic risks that affect all European wine-producing regions.
AREV insists that the current budgets are not sufficient. The recovery plan, as well as the future agricultural policy and the orientations of the European Green Deal, must promote the real sustainability of viticulture.
Resilience and sustainability must be based on a triad of investments, with a dedicated budget, through the adoption of measures by the European Commission and the European Parliament, which:
1) Support actions in favor of precision viticulture and the fight against frost, through the implementation of sustainable solutions such as, among others, windmills,
2) Promote a dynamic promotion policy that is broadly open to the wine sector in all its diversity,
3) Ensure resilience through insurance coverage instruments against climate risks and the development of mutual funds for the stabilization of winegrower’s income and an effective European reserve for crisis management.
Only in this way can we successfully address the challenge of future European policies for the future of agriculture and rural areas in the European Union: to reconcile the expectations of society, the economic challenges, and those of the CAP under the prism of double performance: there is no economic benefit without more environmental protection and no environmental protection without economic benefit.