OIV Recommendations for the application of agroecological principles in the vitivinicultural sector

Status: In force

OIV Recommendations for the application of agroecological principles in the vitivinicultural sector

RESOLUTION OIV-VITI 680-2024

OIV RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE APPLICATION OF AGROECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE VITIVINICULTURAL SECTOR

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

AT THE PROPOSAL of Commission I “Viticulture” and the “Sustainable Development and Climate Change” Expert Group,

IN VIEW OF Article 2, paragraph 2 b)i and c)iii of the Agreement of 3 April 2001 establishing the International Organisation of Vine and Wine,

CONSIDERING Axis 1 of the OIV Strategic Plan 2020-2024, “Promote environmentally-friendly vitiviniculture”, Axis 2, “Promote economic activity according to principles of sustainable development and of market growth and globalization” and Axis 3, “Contribute to social development through vitiviniculture”,

CONSIDERING the Resolution OIV-VITI 01-2002 on conservation of diversity,

CONSIDERING the Resolution OIV-VITI 01-2003 on coordination of priority themes in viticulture and that established genetic diversity and more generally biodiversity as crucial importance,

CONSIDERING the Resolution OIV-CST 518-2016 on the general principles of sustainable vitiviniculture,

CONSIDERING the Resolution OIV–VITI 641-2020, OIV guide for the implementation of principles of sustainable viticulture,

CONSIDERING the revised version of the “Ten Elements Of Agroecology” approved by the 163rd FAO Council in December 2019,

CONSIDERING the report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the FAO entitled “Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition”, published in in December 2019[1],

CONSIDERING The Convention on Biological Diversity of the United Nations and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (Decision CBD/COP/DEC/15/4),

CONSIDERING the emerging studies stemming from the Agroecology principles that represent a more complete and holistic strategy as compared to previous approaches to crop protection[2],

RECOGNISES:

 

1) The FAO definition of agroecology: “Agroecology is a holistic and an integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of food and agricultural systems. It seeks to optimize the biological interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment while taking into consideration the social aspects that need to be addressed for a sustainable and fair food system.”

Furthermore, the FAO stressed that “Agroecology is fundamentally different from other approaches to sustainable development. It is based on bottom-up and territorial processes, helping to deliver contextualized solutions to local problems. Agroecological innovations are based on the co-creation of knowledge, combining science with the traditional, practical and local   knowledge of producers. By enhancing their autonomy and adaptive capacity, agroecology empowers producers and communities as key agents of change.

Rather than tweaking the practices of unsustainable agricultural systems, agroecology seeks to transform food and agricultural systems, addressing the root causes of problems in an integrated way and providing holistic and long-term solutions. This includes an explicit focus on the social and economic dimensions of food systems. Agroecology places a strong focus on the rights of women,   youth, and indigenous peoples.

 

2) The OIV documents that have already been adopted on sustainability, in particular and in a detailed form the resolution OIV–VITI 641-2020 “OIV guide for the implementation of principles of sustainable viticulture”, encompass most of the specific recommendations found in FAO documents related to agroecology. This is especially true concerning the management of production processes at the farm/winery scale, such as input reductions, waste management[3], and biodiversity protection[4]. Nevertheless, some general aspects related to agroecology, concerning socioeconomic issues and the crop management approach, should be considered as well.

Therefore, the resolution OIV–VITI 641-2020 should be updated by the following general agroecological principles related to: a) the production/consumption system, which involves collaboration among different actors in the supply chain, fairness, the systemic connection between producers and consumers, co-creation of knowledge, and the governance of land and natural resources, such as water, soil, air, and biodiversity; b) the role of the grape and wine sector in the whole food sector; c) the adoption of a systemic ecology based approach, crop-centred rather than adversity-centred, for achieving the desired targets related to input reduction, biodiversity improvement, and resilience.

 

3) The transition to production systems, which harmonize human and ecosystem health with social well-being, complying with the agroecological paradigm based on the 10 elements established by the FAO definition[5], requires necessarily major policy changes at international, national and local levels, and active encouragement of innovation at all these levels.

 

DECIDES to adopt the following agroecological principles, applicable in the vitivinicultural sector:

AGROECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES, APPLICABLE IN THE VITIVINICULTURAL SECTOR

  1. Protect the human, social and cultural values of the vitivinicultural sector that can favor     the support of culture and food traditions, as well as the installation of solidarity economies.
  2. Support those cultural values and food traditions linked to vitiviniculture that play a fundamental social role in our cultural identity and sense of belonging to territories and food systems.
  3. Encourage the establishment of solidarity economies that support local economic development, reconnect producers and consumers, and strengthens the social foundations for inclusive and sustainable development.
  4. Favour cocreation and exchange of knowledge in the vitivinicultural sector around agroecology, with the aim of generating responsible governance at all scales and levels of the different players.
  5. Adapt the economic profitability of grape and wine firms, integrating in the management strategies and values, the compliance with Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) principles, in a sector where the importance   of geographical indications is often preponderant.
  6. Favour the autonomy of farms by reducing the use of inputs (fertilisers, plant protection products, water, fossil energies).
  7. Adopt a regenerative purpose by means of cover cropping, crops association, minimal soil disturbance, compost, and minimal use of persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
  8. Enhance vineyard protection by promoting the ecological health of vineyard agroecosystems, improving overall biodiversity, and strengthening soil health, in view of the adaptation to the climate change. This objective is pursued through:
    1. Adopting a vineyard management approach that prioritises preventive measures within a redesigned vineyard agroecosystem framework which includes prophylaxis, leverage of varietal resistance or tolerance, improving soil quality and health, and promoting biodiversity through habitat management and – when feasible – farmland use diversification to make the vineyard agroecosystem less susceptible to biotic stresses;
    2. Integrating traditional physical, biological, and genetic techniques with recent technological innovations in crop protection as biocontrol products; decision support tools (DSS) to also improve the energetic efficiency.

DECIDES to mandate the Expert Group Climate Change and Sustainable Development (SUSTAIN) to integrate such agroecological principles in the resolution OIV–VITI 641-2020 “OIV guide for the implementation of principles of sustainable viticulture” in the framework of its next revision.

RECOMMENDS to the Member States to take vitivinicultural agroecology into account as one of many innovative approaches to sustainable vitiviniculture. Member States may choose to take vitivinicultural agroecology into account in several ways, including:

  • To encourage research and scientific and technical studies on agroecology in vitiviniculture, especially on topics   regarding effective monitoring, quantifying benefits and transition costs.
  • To support the development and promotion of the agroecology-based approaches based on robust science, and their application to vineyards, as an important tool to support and enhance sustainability in the vitivinicultural sector.
  • To consider implementation and consideration of agroecology in production methods throughout the whole grape and wine value-chain.
  • To promote the establishment of public policy measures for evaluation and identification of the benefits and outcomes of the use of agroecological production techniques in each viticultural region. To promote technical-scientific interactions and to bring together the skills between all players of the vitivinicultural sector to enhance the role and importance of the agroecology across the table grapes, dried grapes, juice grapes and wine production system.

[1] HLPE. 2019. Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition. A report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security, Rome.

[2] Ehler, L. E. (2006). Integrated pest management (IPM): Definition, historical development and implementation, and the other IPM. Pest Management Science, 62:9, 787–789. DOI: 10.1002/ps.1247

Koul, O., and Cuperus, G.W. (2007). Ecologically based integrated pest management: present concept and new solutions. Ecologically Based Pest Management, CABI, Oxfordshire, 1–17. 

Lucas, P., Ratnadass, A., Deguine, J.P. (2017). Moving from Integrated Pest Management to Agroecological Crop Protection. Agroecological Crop Protection. Springer Science Business Media B.V, Dordrecht, 24–33.

Deguine, J.P., Aubertot, J.N., Flor, R.J., Lescourret, F., Wyckhuys, K.A.G., and Ratnadass, A. (2021). Integrated pest management: good intentions, hard realities. A review. DOI: 10.1007/s13593-021-00689-w/Published

[3] OIV (2018). Managing byproducts of vitivinicultural origin. https://www.oiv.int/public/medias/6267/managing-viticulture-by-products-web.pdf

[4] OIV (2018). Functional biodiversity in the vineyard. https://www.oiv.int/public/medias/6367/functional-biodiversity-in-the-vineyard-oiv-expertise-docume.pdf

[5] Barrios, E., Gemmill-Herren, B, Bicksler, A., Siliprandi, E., Brathwaite, R., et al. (2020). The 10 Elements of Agroecology: enabling transitions towards sustainable agriculture and food systems through visual narratives, Ecosystems and People, 16:1, 230-247. DOI: 10.1080/26395916.2020.1808705