The Mi.Di.Fen.DO Project
In 2019, we joined the Mi.Di.Fen.Do project, which was created with the aim of finding a preventive method of combating flavescence dorée (FD), a disease that causes serious damage to viticulture, especially to organically managed farms. The method uses recent knowledge on the natural defense routes of vines against this disease.
The main results expected from this experimentation are:
- The identification of volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) that can activate defense pathways against FD in the vine;
- The identification of microorganisms capable of producing them naturally.
- The innovation lies in stimulating a specific defense pathway that some vine varieties already use against FD, namely the jasmonate pathway; this will allow a higher probability of achieving the expected results.
The added value lies in greater economic (reduced production losses) and environmental sustainability (they are natural compounds) and, therefore, greater farm competitiveness.
All wineries, especially organic ones, that currently have ineffective means of defense against FD are interested.
Activities include the testing of different MVOCs, identification among them of the best ones in terms of effectiveness, cost, biodegradability, and in parallel microorganisms capable of producing them are identified.
In addition to our winery, the project sees the collaboration of several parties including other agricultural companies and then the Consorzio Tutela del vino Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco, the Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria Centro di Ricerca viticoltura ed enologia and the University of Verona - Department of Biotechnology.
Monitoring our vineyards: we follow nature to cut down on waste
In 2020 in cooperation with iMETEOS, we installed two agro- meteorological stations equipped with the main sensors to constantly monitor the vineyard.
Specifically, the stations are equipped with the following sensors: rain gauge, air temperature and humidity, leaf wetness, solar radiation, wind speed, and soil moisture sensors.
The system performs all data acquisition, processing and transmission activities, operating continuously so that there are always up-to-date numbers from the vineyards.
The data collected is managed by the FIELD CLIMATE portal in which we keep track of all the main functions via networked device and includes agronomic and phytopathological models for optimizing production processes, saving water and/or energy and reducing environmental impact.
