Funding For Biodiversity Efforts Is Now Available To Wine Growers In Bourgogne

Rows of tidy vineyards can be a beautiful sight, but winemaking regions around the world are becoming more aware of the drawbacks of monoculture on the farm. When one type of crop is cultivated to the reduction of other vegetation and wildlife, the system can become imbalanced. Environmental scales are further tipped when chemical or high-intervention practices are employed to control the influence of nature and weather.

But wine producers have been encouraged by the benefits of biodiversity, an increase in the variety of life existing in an area — in this case, the vineyard and surrounding spaces. Biodiversity has the potential to inhibit disease and pests, support healthy water systems, increase soil fertility, aid pollination, and promote beneficial species. The Bourgogne (Burgundy) region has recently announced funding to build biodiversity within its climats. (Climat is a local term that identifies Bourgogne vineyards as distinct parcels of vines, each with an individual history.) “The Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne association, which coordinates the management of this World Heritage site, has created a Biodiversity Fund to finance and support collective projects aimed at maintaining and developing biodiversity across the Climats,” according to a recent press release.

Those interested in receiving funds must complete a diagnostic land study, for which financing is available. Vineyard management bodies selected for funding will be eligible for amounts from 50-80% of each stage of biodiversity-related projects.

Meanwhile, a biodiversity priority is also reflected by the European Commission (the executive arm of the EU) with a strategy aimed at increasing protected land, high-diversity landscape, and organic farming while also reducing the use and impact of fertilizers and chemical pesticides.

An undertaking in Chassagne-Montrachet provides a case study. “When we return to Chassagne, we will no longer see a sea of vines,” says Adrien Pillot, a Chassagne winegrower. Pillot and other vignerons from the village have engaged with the biodiversity fund and other partners to plant 90 trees and 150 meters of hedges around the vine plots. This includes pear, peach, cherry, or almond trees and lilacs in the hedges. These were installed with the help of local school children to build interest and the investment of youth support for future projects. Additional phases, including a second tranche of planting, will be coordinated.

A recent report from World Wildlife Fund evaluates the balance between agricultural production and environmental conservation. “This requires a paradigm shift from maximizing production at the expense of nature, to farming with biodiversity; where nature drives agriculture rather than suffering from it,” states the report. Initiatives such as the one in Bourgogne fit into solutions that are being sought on a global level.

“There is a real awareness at work among the winegrowers. We want to provide our support and scaling up of the territory listed as World Heritage,” says Nathalie Hordonneau-Fouquet, fund manager. “We hope that this will stimulate a real dynamic, by ‘capitalizing’ on the experience acquired on pilot projects” such as the one in Chassagne-Montrachet.