Context

In both conventional and organic European vineyards, it is not rare to have delimited areas characterized by problems in vine health, grape production and quality. These problems are very often related to sub-optimal soil functionality, caused by an improper land preparation before vine plantation and/or management. Different causes for soil malfunctioning can include: lack of soil nutrients (both major and trace elements); imbalance of some element ratios (Ca/Mg, K/Mg, P/Fe, and Fe/Mn); pH; water deficiency; soil compaction and/or scarce oxygenation; and soil Cu-toxicity. These causes can be present simultaneously and can interact to decrease grapevine performance and increase nutritional deficiencies.
The main hypothesis of this research project is the following: “the degraded areas within vineyards can be restored to the target soil functionality for grapevine. This can be obtained by different site-specific management strategies that follow organic principles including addition of different types of compost, green manure, permanent grass cover and dry mulching”.
The overall objective of the project is testing the effects of these different management strategies on soil physical, chemical, and biological quality; on grapevine healthy growth and performance; and on grape yield and quality.

RESOLVE is one of the eleven European research projects selected for funding by the 22 CORE Organic Plus funding bodies on October 2014. CORE Organic is the acronym for "Coordination of European Transnational Research in Organic Food and Farming Systems". As an ERA-NET action, it intends to increase cooperation between national research activities. CORE Organic Plus is the continuation of the ERA-Nets CORE Organic I and CORE Organic II. Compared to the previous CORE Organic ERA-Nets the Plus ERA-Net will benefit from an additional top-up funding by the European Commission. CORE Organic Plus consists of 24 partners from 21 countries/regions. The overall objective of CORE Organic is to enhance quality, relevance and utilization of resources in European research in organic food and farming and to establish a joint pool for financing transnational research in organic food and farming.