Carbon cutting with IWCA
The further companies go on the carbon reduction journey, the steeper the climb, says Yealands Sustainability Manager Andree Piddington.
“Our understanding of soils and plants has come a long way, and there’s a need to embrace some of the new technologies,” says viticulturist Nick Pett of this juxtaposition in vineyards around the country.
“Things don’t have to be done like they were 100 years ago, but there is a time and place to use these historical learnings too.”
Such open and curious mindedness is what Nick – committee chair of the Organic & Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference on in Blenheim from 16-18 June – loves about winegrowing.
After several years at organic and biodynamic producer Seresin Estate, Nick now works at Yealands, where new technology like solar panels fits naturally alongside old-school practices, including hand ploughing one of its organic blocks this growing season.
The three-day technical conference includes expert speakers on climate change, water ecology, biodiversity, soil health and regenerative viticulture. And it taps into the traditional and the new, from Jeremy Hyland talking biodynamics at The Wrekin, to Hill Labs scientist Dr Sara Loeffen discussing environmental DNA to measure earthworm populations.
Nick’s science degree saw him extracting DNA from soils, but he can’t see himself giving up his typical spring earthworm count.
“There’s something so tangible to be able to dig up a piece of earth and count them, rather than put it in a box and send it away.” It’s likely he’ll combine the visual and eDNA assessments, using very old and very news ways to check in on soil biology. “I think there’s a place for both.”
organicwineconference.com
