Italy
Calabria
Grapes
Stefano Bortolussi (stefano@aiab.fvg.it)
Most used practices:
Mechanical Control - Mowing - False Seedbed

Grapes Living Lab

In the second Italian Living Lab, we are working on vineyards. In Calabria (south Italy), farmers adopt a high-input control of weeds, chemically in conventional agricultural systems and mechanically in organic farming. Hence, there is an urgent need of searching for more sustainable weed control methods. For this reason, the team composed by Associazione Italiana l’Agricoltura Biologica (AIAB), University of Catania and Messina, is working to evaluate the weed-suppressive ability cover crops in conventional and organic vineyards. This Living Lab includes two field trials where three different cover crops (faba bean minor, berseem clover and hairy vetch-oat mixture) have been sown in the inter-row space of vineyards. The cover crops are providing several environmental services, including an efficient weed management and promotion of biodiversity, thereby improving the sustainability of the overall farming system.