Viticulture in Europe has to deal with the effects of climate change. Increasing droughts in summer, a high risk of erosion due to heavy rainfall and the immigration of new pests require innovative solutions.

The LIFE VineAdapt project aims to help improve the resilience of vineyard ecosystems to climatic changes. Increasing biodiversity and adapting vineyard manage-ment are crucial for this. LIFE VineAdapt builds on the findings of our predecessor project LIFE VinEcoS.

LIFE VineAdapt has a duration of 5 years. Until June 2025, eight practice and research partners from Germany, France, Austria and Hungary will focus on five work packages. Public relations and knowledge transfer measures will help to transfer the project results into viticultural practice

We will prove that the establishment of natural vegetation in vineyards is possible under different geographical and climatic conditions and will have positive biotic and abiotic effects. When establishing a resource-efficient and biodiversity-friendly management in vineyards, we expect a significant reduction of fertilizer demand as well as an improved CO2 balance.

We anticipate that native vegetation will regenerate better after drought than conventional greening. By establishing species-rich vegetation in formerly open inter-rows, we will increase carbon storage in the soil. Due to an expanded pollen and nectar supply from the wild plants, the occurrence of wild bees and pest antagonists in the vine alley is significantly increased.