Researchers have created an online platform that, by collecting historical and real-time data, helps wine growers in the Duero Demarcated Region to manage the effects of climate change on the vineyard, with the intention now of extending the solution to other regions.
This is an iconic region that is also suffering greatly from the impact of climate change and rising temperatures,” Lino Oliveira, a researcher at the Institute of Engineering, Technology, and Systems and Computing Sciences (INESC TEC), told Lusa. involved in the project.
The project, which began in June 2019 and ended in December 2021, resulted in the INFRAVINI platform, which main objective is to support wine growers in the regionin the Duero river basin, to adapt their crops to the effects of climate change, “challenges” for which “strategies and policies” are needed both in the short and long term.
Climate change has a great impact on crops and the vine is a plant that is very sensitive to atmospheric conditions, which can endanger both the quality of the grapes and the harvest itself,” he observed.
Although the platform “does not solve the problem”, it makes it possible to provide and make available to winegrowers a “set of data and processed information” that, combined with day-to-day experience, allows them to make a “more informed decision”. .
We wanted to develop an instrument capable of helping viticulturists to be more resilient to climate change and, for that, it is necessary to understand contextual factors, such as the regional climate”, highlighted Lino Oliveira.
The platform collects information from actors in the region and from external sources such as the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), but also from a network of sensors integrated in the six meteorological stations in the region: Adorigo, Cambres, Canelas, Pinhão , Soutelo do Douro and Vilarica.
Grouped and processed, the data results in a series of water indicators, such as the annual index of precipitation and dryness, and thermal indicators, such as the index of cold nights and the temperature of the hottest month.
At the same time, the platform brings together the prediction of phenological development in each of the weather stations, models that, applied to the vine, are “valuable tools to help winemakers and winemakers decide on cultural practices”.
Along with these indicators, the The platform also integrates the observatory, the catalog, the forecast climate information and the information from the sensor network.
Through the network of sensors, winegrowers can consult information on temperature, precipitation, humidity, sunshine, evapotranspiration and wind speed, also at each of the weather stations.
In addition to supporting day-to-day decisions, the platform allows viticulturists to have a forecast of the future to understand the feasibility of installing a vineyard in a certain place or how it should be installed to make it more resistant and profitable”, he pointed out. the researcher, emphasizing that the platform responds to a series of “needs and paths” indicated by the winegrowers of the region, represented in the project by the Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Viticultura Duriense (ADVID).
The objective of the researchers is now, together with GEODOURO (leading entity of the project), “to spread and apply the concept to other regions of the country”.
This platform is not the end, but the beginning, because from here other services can be created that can contribute to creating more value and relevant information to support wine growers from different regions”, said Lino Oliveira.
In addition to the Porto institute, researchers from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) also participated in this project.
Source: Observadora
