Implementing improved vineyard floor management for premium grape production in a warm and dry Mediterranean climate

The table and wine grape industries contribute $800 million to Western Australia’s economy, but rising temperatures are challenging vineyards, compromising fruit quality, and reducing high fruit premiums for growers.

Vineyard irrigation requirements rise under drought conditions. However, growers struggle to meet the extra water demand by the vines due to reductions in their groundwater irrigation licenses during temperature extremes or lack of available surface and dam water.

Many Australian vineyards have bare interrow soils due to an industry perception that cover crops compete for essential grapevine water resources.

However, the lack of ground cover can increase evaporation of soil moisture, heat reflectance into grapevines, temperature fluctuations, erosion, nutrient leaching, and weed proliferation.

This project aimed to demonstrate how winter cover crops may be dried into ‘green mulch’ in summer to alleviate these problems by covering bare soils without requiring further water resources.

This innovative approach offers a solution to improve vineyard climate resilience, challenging industry perceptions, and contributing to sustainable water management in Western Australia.