The 3rd Regenerative Viticulture Conference will explore microbial life in soil for creating resilient vineyards
To be held on 16 May at Castell de Falset in Priorat. Organized by the Association of Regenerative Viticulture, the conference will feature prominent international microbiology experts such as Dr Elaine Ingham, Lydia and Claude Bourguignon, and Dr Rosa Vercher. The closing will be hosted by Elisenda Guillaumes, Director-General of Agriculture and Livestock Farming of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia.
The 3rd Regenerative Viticulture Conference, organized by the Association of Viticulture Regenerative, will be held on 16 May this year in Falset, the capital of the Priorat region. With the title ‘Soil microbiology: key for resilient viticulture’, the event will bring together national and international experts to explain what soil microbiology consists of and how it works, as well as why it can help vineyards to cope with the climate threat.
Regenerative viticulture is being proposed as a solution for neutralizing soil degradation, in line with Goal 15, ‘Life on Land’, of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. According to Miguel Torres Maczassek, President of the Association of Regenerative Viticulture and General Manager of Familia Torres, ‘it is clear that the degradation of vineyard soils around the world over decades of intensive use has diminished their capacity to support life, especially microbial life, and, consequently, they no longer store carbon’. He adds: ‘Soil regeneration will make our vineyards more resilient and enable them to fix atmospheric carbon in the soil like forests do, and so they will contribute to slowing down the climate threat’.
Understanding and being familiar with soil and the life it supports is key in regenerative viticulture. For this reason, after the past two editions looked at the foundations and main practices of this vine-growing model, this third conference will serve as a platform for important soil microbiology experts, with the aim of bringing their expertise to vine growers and wine producers who have set out on the path to regenerative viticulture.
Dr Elaine Ingham, a microbiologist and founder of the Soil Web Food School, will open the conference. Considered one of the world’s most important soil biologists, her talk will explore the dynamics created in the soil food web. The role of biology in vineyard soil will then be examined by Lydia and Claude Bourguignon, soil microbiologists and founders of the Soil Microbiological Analysis Laboratory (Laboratoire d’analyse microbiologique des sols – LAMS), and Jeff Lowenfels, author of the award-winning Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, among numerous other books on gardening and botany.
The conference will also feature the participation of Dr Rosa Vercher, an expert in pest ecology and biological control and leader in sustainable pest management research; Nicole Masters, an agroecologist, director of Integrity Soils, and trainer in regenerative agriculture; and Jordi Puig, a Doctor of Environmental Sciences who specializes in climate change and global environmental change. Francesc Font, Vice President of the Association of Regenerative Viticulture and co-founder of Agroassessor Consultors Tècnics, will present the Regenerative Viticulture Alliance (RVA) international certification that has been promoted recently by the Association in collaboration with Ecocert.
Moderated by the journalist Ruth Troyano, the 3rd Regenerative Viticulture Conference will include institutional participation from Carlos Brull, the mayor of Falset, and Elisenda Guillaumes, the Director-General of Agriculture and Livestock Farming of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia. The conference will take place on Tuesday, 16 May, from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm at Castell de Falset, and it will also be streamed online via the website www.viticulturaregenerativa.org. Anyone interested in attending may write to info@viticulturaregenerativa.org to book their place.
