Profitability of erosion control with cover crops in European vineyards under consideration of environmental costs

Abstract

Vine cultivation on slopes causes serious erosion with significant losses of nutrients, organic matter and water, followed by an overall loss of soil biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES). Cover crops (CC) in inter-rows can reduce these effects, but are often renounced by winegrowers due to economic causes. Soil erosion rates obtained from field data and simulations with ORUSCAL (Orchard RUSle CALibration) lay the basis for comparing three different scenarios of soil management; conventional tillage (CT), temporary cover crops (TCC) and permanent cover crops (PCC). We use the Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) to include on-and off-site costs of erosion and to demonstrate their economic implications. The scenarios are calculated for two different European wine regions, Montilla-Moriles (Spain) and Carnuntum (Austria). 2 Results from ORUSCAL show that erosion is decreased in most cases with increasing use of vegetation cover. Overall, the consideration of erosion costs in the budget of farmers has only minor effects on their competitiveness and additional costs for CC are not covered by private erosion cost savings. However, if social erosion costs are added, CC are cost-effective in both regions. This is even without the valuation of non-marketed ecosystem services such as cultural and aesthetic aspects which most likely will increase social costs of erosion. Furthermore, our results show that higher revenues are of greater importance for management decisions than lower input prices. Therefore, CC should be rewarded either through a higher willingness to pay from consumers or government support.

Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Sustainable and Profitable Farming in Europe

“…SICS have the potential to reduce costs in the long run by reducing the need for external, costly inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, reducing energy use for operating machinery, and/or reducing labour input [73][74][75]. While some SICS may lead to reduced productivity, they may make more efficient used of inputs and thus be more profitable.…”

Spatial and temporal diversity of service plant management strategies across vineyards in the south of France. Analysis through the Coverage Index

“…Service plants can help to provide a habitat for natural enemies of grapevine pests (Danne et al, 2010). In addition, they can improve vineyard aesthetics ( Kazakou et al, 2016;Winkler et al, 2017) and also reduce on and off-site costs (Schütte et al, 2020). On the flip side, certain plant species associated with grapevines can occasionally induce competition for resources.…”

Effectiveness of Cover Crops to Reduce Loss of Soil Organic Matter in a Rainfed Vineyard

“…The clear temporal changes in the SY and the concentration of OMSed and EROM over the test period suggest that the management of the CC as a permanent cover instead of the current use as a temporary cover could help minimize the loss of soil and OM in the intense rainfall events that commonly happen in autumn in the study area. Schütte et al [47] recommended this practice after evaluating soil loss at two different European wine regions (one in Spain and another in Austria). Our research at the Somontano Certified Region in Aragón, where the rainfed vineyard in rolling landscapes produces high soil losses, demonstrates that there are solutions to achieve a sustainable management.…”