As customers increasingly seek out wines produced in environmentally friendly ways, grape growers are looking for the most beneficial agricultural methods to fulfil this demand — a need Liette Vasseur is passionate to meet.

The Brock Professor of Biology is leading a national research team evaluating and refining the effectiveness of nature-based approaches to cultivation in four Ontario vineyards.

At the heart of the research is how cover crops and species that originate locally could protect and enhance soil by retaining water, preventing erosion, supplying nutrients and suppressing weeds and pests, among other functions.

The team’s project, “Promoting an integrative landscape approach in vineyards for greater resilience in the face of climatic and environmental changes,” is one of several included under the federal government’s Organic Science Cluster 4 (OSC4) initiative.

Vasseur, who is UNESCO Chair on Community Sustainability: From Local to Global and Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) fellow has shown in her past research particular types of cover crops such as legumes, grasses and herbaceous flowering plants can have positive impacts on surrounding ecosystems and improve the system’s resilience.

She and her team — including Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Jim Willwerth and Principal Scientist Sudarsana Poojari with the University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) and Biological Sciences and Engineering Assistant Professor Alonso Zavafer — will investigate if and how cover crops native to the study area can be introduced to the local vineyards and how these cover crops interact with the vines, other plants and insects that benefit the vines’ growth.

“Testing native species and other alternatives can help organic and sustainable grape growers reduce the impact of climate change, improve carbon sequestration and support the presence of beneficial insects, ensuring the sustainability of their vineyards,” says Vasseur.

The researchers will also test out the effectiveness of sticky cards, pieces of coloured cardboard coated with glue that attract and trap insects.

Green sticky cards are already being used in many organic tea plantations and have proven to be effective in monitoring and controlling leafhoppers, but have never been tested in vineyards where leafhoppers are also an issue, Vasseur says.

In addition, the team is looking at the types of plants that could be added to strips of land such as perimeters or hedgerows that define boundaries of vineyards.

Adding trees and shrubs to these pieces of land will help store carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, further protecting the environment against climate change impacts, she says.

“Using nature-based systems to raise crops is a powerful example of how creative, innovative thinking can protect our environment while promoting economic development at the same time, which the Brock University team is honing through this project,” says Chris Bittle, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines.

Announced last month, funding for the Organic Science Cluster 4 (OSC4) initiative comes through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) AgriScience Program, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

The Organic Federation of Canada (OFC) added funding from more than 80 partners for a total investment of $12.1 million over five years.

This is the second project Vasseur is heading up under the cluster program. In 2018, she and her team carried out research on vineyard sustainability under OSC3.