Blogpost: PREPSOIL Agroforestry Soil Needs Workshop Vineyard Soils – Bordeaux (France)
The PREPSOIL workshop on the sustainable management of vineyard soils in Bordeaux took place on April 24, 2023 at the Maison de l'Agriculture et de la Forêt in Bordeaux. It gathered stakeholders of the wine industry including politicians, agricultural organizations, researchers and others that discussed about the health of soils in vineyard of Bordeaux.
Following the presentation of the Mission, PREPSOIL and the first results of the soil needs assessment of the region, different stakeholders presented local projects about vineyard soils. Nathalie Ollat (INRAE) spoke about the links between wine-growing soils and climate change, studied by the LACCAVE project. The soil mapping on the terroir of Entre-Deux-Mers (Laurent Charlier, CIVB), and the DECISOL guide for wine growers, which helps to choose the most adapted soil grassing strategy (Océane Ricau, Gironde Chamber of Agriculture) were also presented. Finally, Victor Moreaud, winegrower, gave feedback on the implementation of cover crops on Château Cormeil-Figeac-Magnan.
In plenary session, desirable futures, current and future challenges, and solutions for vineyard soils were discussed. Soils are seen as a lever for climate change resilience and production quality and quantity. As a prerequisite for sustainable soil management, it is necessary to consider the specificities of grapevines: they are perennial plants, generally grown on soils with low organic matter, and for which yields are limited. Some recommendations came out of these discussions:
- Define the quality of a vineyard soil with common indicators to all stakeholders;
- Develop skills and knowledge about vineyard soils and associate stakeholders to elaborate research projects;
- Educate stakeholder to improve the chain of advice on the organic pillar – in comparison with the chemical pillar;
- Raise awareness of stakeholders and citizens to avoid preconceived ideas.
During the afternoon, the concept of Living Lab was explained by Muriel Mambrini, and the Living Labs of VitiREV were presented by Lydia Héraud, elected representative of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. There were discussions about the creation of Living Lab, the opportunity of being part of this co-creation ecosystem, and some topics that could be the object of research.