InputsBiodiversity & ecosystem

Reduced spraying & integrated protection for biodiversity & ecosystem

The impact, measured

80 /100

Time horizon: 1–3 seasons

Why it works

Cutting broad-spectrum treatments spares beneficials and pollinators, letting the food web recover.

What to measure for this pairing

Beneficial abundanceBroad-spectrum treatments

Why this goal matters

Functional biodiversity turns the vineyard into a self-regulating ecosystem. Beneficials keep pests in check, pollinators and cover-crop flora support the food web, and diversity above and below ground buffers climate and disease shocks.

It is measured through ecological infrastructure (hedges, flower strips, walls), beneficial abundance and diverse ground cover. It is also an explicit requirement of schemes such as sustainability certification and integrated production.

Goal indicators

% area in ecological infrastructureGround-cover diversityBeneficial / pollinator abundanceLinear metres of hedgerow per hectare

Market & certification: Central to sustainability certification, integrated production and brand storytelling.

How to implement the practice

  1. 1Monitor disease risk and pest catches per plot.
  2. 2Apply action thresholds before deciding to treat.
  3. 3Log each application with product, rate and active substance.
  4. 4Track the 7-year rolling copper mean.

Frequently asked

Doesn’t cutting sprays raise the risk of losing the crop?

No, if decisions are risk- and monitoring-based. The goal is to remove the unnecessary treatments, not the necessary ones.

How do I stay within the copper limit?

By logging every application and summing the active substance on the 7-year rolling mean — exactly what the phytosanitary register does automatically.

Same practice, other goals

Same goal, other practicesBiodiversity

Related reading →Downy mildew: reading the risk and timing the spray

How GrapeFlow helps

The proof certification and buyers ask for — logged by plot and date.

Phytosanitary register & copper balance

Every treatment is logged with product, rate and active substance, and copper is summed on the 7-year rolling mean — direct proof of input reduction.

Field observations & pest monitoring

Beneficial counts, trap catches and disease observations logged in the field, so you decide to treat (or not) on data.

Electronic field notebook

Log every operation — cover sowing, grazing, composting, mowing — by plot and date, with an audit-ready history that proves the practice over the years.