Agrobiodiversity dynamics in a French wine-growing region

Abstract

Agrobiodiversity is a promising nature-based solution in the pursuit of sustainable agriculture. In wine-growing systems, commercial pressure and varietal regulations have narrowed agrobiodiversity in vineyards despite higher diversity being an important buffer against the effects of climate change. If drivers of grape diversity change are well-understood at national to global scales, little is known about the local, past or anticipated trajectories that drive agrobiodiversity dynamics depending on growers’ cultural values, practices and choices. We combined quantitative agricultural census data and qualitative ethnographic approaches to characterise changes in the diversity of grape varieties from 1960 to 2020 at the communal and vineyard levels in a French wine-growing region, and to decipher the drivers of change. We highlight that vineyards have drastically changed in 60 years, with a decline in planted area and in farm number. We outline that despite a loss of varietal richness across both vineyard and communal scales, varietal richness remains high and evenness have increased across geographic scales in 2020. Ethnographic field observations emphasize that growers account for external drivers (e.g., market changes, regulation and policy, technology, environmental), but also cultural values when they choose which grape varieties to plant. Grape diversity was maintained despite market integration as an insurance to spread production risk, mitigate market volatility and address environmental uncertainties. Securing livelihoods in the midst of market changes has been a major concern for growers over the last six decades and remains so. Despite a pessimistic future vision of the vineyard shared by most growers, the Gaillac region has a cultural heritage that values diversity and that thereby supports adaptation to climate change. We expect that environmental factors may play a more important role in grape selection and planting sites in the future under the influence of climate change and pesticide reduction policies. In order to expand individual initiatives resulting in diversified grape selection, growers need to be better connected with stakeholders at a variety of institutional levels.