ValorInVitis:

Expansion and enhancement of biodiversity for a competitive and sustainable management of Piacenza’s viticulture

We are partners of VALORinVITIS, an Operative Group of the Emilia-Romagna Region that aims to enhance the typical grape varieties of the Piacenza area by increasing the resilience of the production system to climate change.

With the implementation of the project, the expected results are the following:

• Enhancement of the Ervi grape variety (an intraspecific cross between Barbera and Croatina) in response to the production discontinuity and low basal fertility of Croatina.
• Strengthening the use of computerized and assisted vineyard management techniques using a decision support system (DSS) for defense planning, which will be applied both to resistant hybrids and to local grape varieties of major importance (Barbera and Croatina).
• Awareness of the local viticultural heritage among young students from Piacenza and expansion of the technical skills of future operators in the sector.
• Identification of at least one or two minor local varieties that show good adaptability to changing climatic conditions and have a higher total acidity resistance.
• Introduction of drought-tolerant rootstocks.
• Protection of the crop, reduction of pesticides and lower environmental impact.

The project is funded with a total contribution of € 263,730 from the FEASR, under the Regional Programme for Rural Development 2014-2020 Emilia – Romagna – Type of operation 16.1.01 – Operative groups of the European Innovation Partnership: “productivity and sustainability of agriculture” – Focus Area 2A – Project VALORinVITIS n.5004320