In a joint action with the Consultancy Center for fruit growing, the Agricultural Experimental Center of Laimburg, the European Academy of Bolzano, the Free University of Bolzano and Alfred Strigl, sustainability expert, the Consorzio Vini Alto Adige has developed the Alto Adige Wine Agenda 2030, a basis on which to build the future of South Tyrolean wine production which establishes the commitment to implement a series of concrete measures by 2030. "Having drawn up a program of intentions is now more important than ever considering the great difficulties which involved the wine sector in what has been the most difficult year in recent history so far due to Covid and the lockdown ", said today Maximilian Niedermayr, President of the Consorzio Vini Alto Adige.
The Agenda presented is divided into five operational levels which correspond to as many pillars on which the wine sector rests, namely soil, vineyards, wine, territory and people, and outlines a path of change to be undertaken in each of these sectors.
To safeguard the soil, the agenda includes switching to exclusively organic fertilization, replacing single-use synthetic materials with biodegradable materials and also intends to detect, document and optimize the consumption of water resources.
In the management of the vineyards, new unified rules are envisaged for phytosanitary treatments with very incisive interventions and already from 2023 it will no longer be possible to use synthetic herbicides. Particular attention will also be paid to biodiversity in the vineyards themselves, which will be promoted with a special handbook for winemakers and by establishing a prize to be awarded annually to the most ecological vineyard in South Tyrol.
Furthermore, with the 2030 Agenda, the fight against carbon dioxide emissions produced by the wine sector comes to the fore. "We will do a complete and accurate survey of CO2 emissions to identify effective measures with which to reduce our footprint and we will commit ourselves to drafting a specific climate protection program, while also developing a strategy that helps companies in the sector to prepare for the challenges. presented by climate change ", concludes Niedermayr.
The last operational levels of the 2030 Agenda, which concern the territory and people, have the objective of preserving intact the rural landscape created over the centuries by wine production in Alto Adige and all its production chain and, from other, that of involving all the figures that revolve around the sector in order to be able to act on a large scale and make the project grow from below, adapting it, along the way, to the changed economic, ecological and legislative conditions.
