Sustainable Viticulture Practices

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Sustainable Viticulture Practices That Work
Certified Crop Advisers/Organic Fertilizer
Association Organic Seminar April 22, 2009
Dr. Clifford P. Ohmart Sustainable Winegrowing
Director Lodi Winegrape Commission
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Presentation Outline

• Practicing Sustainable Winegrowing
  (Viticulture) Lessons learned from 18 years in
  Lodi
• - Outreach and education program
• Lodi Winegrowers Workbook program
• Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing program
• What is sustainable winegrowing?
• Doing a self assessment
• Sustainable winegrowing is attention to detail
• What is coming in the future for sustainable
  winegrowing?

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What is Sustainable Winegrowing?

• It focuses on all aspects of farming
• Soil
• Water
• Grapes
• Air
• Energy use
• Areas not farmed
• Family, employees and community
• Economics

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Sustainable Winegrowing It Starts With A
Sustainable Vision
If you dont know where you are going,
You may end up someplace else!
- Yogi Berra
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Why is a Vision Important?

• Some growers say Just tell me what to do and
  Ill do it
• - if task is challenging, one is likely to not
  do it if there is no understanding of its
  importance
• Sustainable farming is a paradigm not a laundry
  list of practices
• - The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

so is IPM
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How Can You Use Your Vision?

• For every practice you implement you can ask
• - Does it take me toward or away from my vision?
• Some practices will take you away from your
  vision
• Sustainable farming involves compromises

For guidelines on creating a sustainable vision
for your farm www.lodirules.com Companion
Document
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Three Challenges for Implementing a Sustainable
Winegrowing Program
1) Defining it

• How can you do it if you cant define it?
• What are the boundaries of the definition?
• There are no universally accepted standards

2) Implementing it

• What can I do to on my farm?
• How do we extend this to an entire sector/region?

3) Measuring it

• Tracking practices where am I at?
• How is it impacting my farming operation?
• Environmental performance measures?

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Defining Sustainable Agriculture
Leaving the farm in as good or better shape for
the next generation than when one started farming
it.
development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
- 1987 United Nations Brundtland Commission
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Defining it - Sustainability Principles for the
California Wine Industry
Economically Viable
Environmentally Sound
Socially Equitable
The three Es of Sustainability
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Sustainable Winegrowing Lessons Learned
It is best viewed as a continuum
Less Sustainable
More Sustainable
It is about continual improvement moving along
the continuum
Its not about drawing a line someone can
always do better than you
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Thoughts to Ponder about Sustainable Farming?

• Farming leaves an environmental footprint
• The world of sustainable farming is one where
  the horizon is always receding!
• Price of grapes will dictate what sustainable
  practices can be implemented

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More Thoughts to Ponder about Sustainable Farming

• Organic and Biodynamic were codified a long
  time ago, Sustainable Ag was not
• Growers implementing sustainable farming are
  not in transition to organic or Biodynamic

Why?

• What are the current issues?
• Water use
• Energy use
• Air quality
• GHG climate change
• Human resource issues

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Sustainable Winegrowing Practices That Work
Start with a self assessment
What does a grower self-assessment accomplish?

• identifies good farming practices being done
• identifies farming practices that are of concern
  from an environmental and/or wine quality
  perspective
• development of action plans to address these
  concerns
• set time table to carry out action plans

It is a tool for Defining, Implementing, and
Measuring Sustainable Winegrowing
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Lodi Winegrowers Workbook 2nd Edition Content
Defined 160 Critical Issues

• Introduction
• Ecosystem Management
• Vineyard Establishment Replanting
• Viticulture
• Soil Management
• Water Management
• Pest Management (IPM)
• Human Resources Management
• Shop Yard Management
• Wine Quality Customer Satisfaction

whole farming system approach
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Example Issue From Pest Mgt Chapter
Format of Self-Assessment Workbook Worksheets
Increasing Sustainability
Ultimate IPM
No IPM
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Example Evaluation Sheet from Pest Management
Section
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Example Action Plan
ACTION PLAN
ISSUE NO.
ISSUE AREA OF CONCERN
WORKBOOK SECTION
PLAN OF ACTION
TIMETABLE
Move to Cat. 3 by sampling flower clusters for
larvae and if spray is necessary use biofix from
pheromone trapping to time it.
Pest Mgt Chapter
6.9 on pg 215
Managing OLR
Start next growing season
Cat. 2. Treatment is based on time of year
(calendar-based)
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Measuring Implementation of Sustainable Practices
Monitoring for Hoppers and Mites I monitor every
week but do not keep a written record
Timing of Mildew Treatments Treatments are
applied according to experience, mentally taking
weather into account
Releasing Mite Predators I do not release them
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Monitoring for Hoppers and Mites
Releasing Mite Predators
Timing of Mildew Treatments
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Sustainable Practices that Work Data driven
decision-making

• Sustainable farming is attention to detail
• If you cant measure it you, cant manage it

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Attention to Detail Importance of Pest Monitoring
Why is recording pest monitoring important?

• One learns and makes changes from experience
• With no records of past years pest numbers,
  control practices, or damage you cannot improve
  upon past performance
• It is important to compare your results with
  others

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Importance of Data-driven Decisions
Perceived risk vs. real risk

• Growers advisors dont spray for the fun of
  it
• Key to success of IPM is acting based on real
  risks
• Without data like in graph there is no way we
  can come to grips with this issue
• I doubt the situation presented in leafhopper
  graph is restricted only to winegrapes

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Create Management Plans Lodi Rules

• Do vineyard environmental survey
• Human Resources
• Nutrition management
• Soil erosion and soil conservation
• Economic threshold plan (insects)
• Vine mealybug
• Powdery mildew
• Weed management
• Vertebrate management
• Sprayer calibration
• Spray and dust drift management

www.lodirules.com Companion Document
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Nutrition Management Plan Example

• Vineyard parameters map, soil series, etc.
• Soil analyses
• Water analyses
• Tissue analyses
• Yield history
• Sources of nutritional inputs cover crop, other
  biological sources, synthetic
• Sensitive areas in and around vineyard e.g. water
  table depth, potential leaching, predominant wind
  direction
• Recommend rates of nutritional inputs
• Recommended timing of applications
• Methods of application

Nutrient Budget
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Nutrition Management Plan Annual Review

• What were actual application rates
• What was actual timing of applications
• What were the actual application methods
• What was the effect on yield and quality
• Was there enough fertility? Too much?
• What events caused plan deviations?
• Revise plan for next year

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Pesticide Environmental Assessment System or PEAS

• Model Developed by Dr. Chuck Benbrook
• Calculates environmental impact units for each
  pesticide Active Ingredient used in Lodi
• EIUs are a direct measure of environmental
  impact
• EIUs can be added up to calculate total impact
  of all pesticides used on each vineyard acre
  per year

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PEAS is a Multi-attribute Model
PEAS EIU is made of the following indices

• Worker exposure
• Acute toxicity to birds
• Acute Toxicity to Daphnia (measure of water
  quality)
• Acute toxicity to Bees
• Dietary risk e.g. residue ingestion

Data to calculate indices were from EPA, USDA
and University Studies
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Lorsban 173.00
Nexter 50.00
Copper Hydroxide 7.00
Neem Oil 5.00
Provado 3.00
Cryolite 2.94
Sulfur Dust 2.37
Omite 2.05
Surround 1.45
Roundup 0.39
Kaligreen 0.39
Rally 0.32
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The tool displays a risk summary in two graphic
formats. The display on the left shows the
proportion of indices that fall into each risk
category (low/moderate/high). This display gives
the user a quick comparison of the products and
is our alternative to a composite score. For a
more detailed comparison, the display on the
right shows the level of risk for each resource
concern.
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What is Coming in the Future for Sustainable
Winegrowing?
Performance-based metrics to measure
sustainability
Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops

• Coordinating Council of over 30 Stakeholders
  representing from farm to consumer
• Committees formed to identify metrics for GHG,
  Energy, Water Use, Air Quality, Pesticides, Soil
  Water Quality, Biodiversity, Human Resources
• Goal is to identify metrics for stakeholders to
  use to advance their programs NOT to set
  sustainability thresholds

www.stewardshipindex.org
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Lodi Wine Visitor Center