4.1 Conventional Viticulture

Question 1

What are the five approaches to Grape Growing?

Answer 1

1. Conventional
2. Sustainable
3. Organic
4. Biodynamic
5. Precision

Question 2

When did conventional viticulture become popular? Why?

Answer 2

• In the second half of the twentieth century

- Intensive fruit farming aimed to raise production levels and reduce labor requirements

Question 3

Name 4 ways that conventional viticulture is achieved.

Answer 3

1. Mechanization
2. Chemical inputs
3. Irrigation
4. Clonal selection

Question 4

How are vineyards kept weed-free in conventional viticulture?

Answer 4

• Plowing between the rows

- Spraying herbicides

Question 5

What are the advantages of monocultures?

Answer 5

• ability to mechanise the work in the vineyard
• reduction of competition from other plants
• ability to tend to the specific needs of the grape variety planted (irrigation, nutrition level, treatments against hazards, pests and diseases) and to increase yields while reducing costs

Question 6

What are the disadvantages of monocultures?

Answer 6

• plants more prone to diseases and pests (require more treatments or protection)
• nutrients can be depleted as there is no natural ecosystem to replenish nutrients (requiring more applications of fertilisers)

from the extra treatments, residual chemicals can find their way into ground water or the air, creating environmental damage

Question 7

What is used to control pests and diseases in conventional viticulture?

Answer 7

• use of agrochemicals in the vineyard

Question 8

When did grape growers start to realize that spraying pesticides on a regular basis and routine use of mineral fertilisers were harmful to soil quality, expensive, detrimental to the environment and potentially hazardous for vineyard workers and even the consumer?

Answer 8

Late 20th Century