Farming in the 21st Century

Chris Turyk - I love wine, a lot. I’m a Certified Sommelier, WSET Diploma graduate, and get in everyones way at unsworthvineyards.

Humans revel in the ability to categorize expansive topics into clean little boxes. Certifications exist showing consumers that farm production methods follow established criteria judged at a higher environmental standard than that status quo conventional farm. Well intentioned though they are, perhaps they run the risk of eroding potential for uncertified growers to express the positive impact their practices have. The silent salesman stamp on the back label can never do justice in expressing the efforts farmers make in crafting the best possible product.

Borrowing a political analogy, the far right represents some of the largest companies on the planet, whom all but control the commodity wine trade. Swing over to the idealist left where we celebrate connection to nature, are in touch with lunar cycles, apply homeopathic remedies and endure mountains of physical work. Where does that leave the majority of those who are left of centre? After all, in that cohort, generally the most interesting solutions originate. Without colourfully extolling the benefits of a vineyards’ recent conversion to Demeter Certified Biodynamics, expressing farming techniques to the well read wine drinker is daunting. Contrary to popular belief, agricultural practices are not a pyramid with Biodynamics resting above Organics with lutte raisonnée below followed by conventional agriculture pulling up the rear. Purchasing a bottle of wine that doesn’t degrade our planet doesn’t mean choosing Biodynamics or nothing.

Advances in equipment and technology, next to vineyard sprays, represent the least sexy part of wine. They also represent the future of viable viticulture. Sprayers are not all created equally. During visits to any agricultural region, all witness sprayers in operation. A visible plume of vapour blasting up from the middle of a row may solidify the image. This illustrates a substandard sprayer in dire need of retirement. The plume only visible because the spray, whether kelp or a systemic botrytis spray, is being applied everywhere but on the plant where needed. The best sprayers on the market straddle the canopy, have ultra fine nozzles which lightly and evenly coat the desired area. Many feature a vacuum on the opposing side filtering and reusing any excess spray which may permeate the canopy. When I read, “farmed using traditional practices” and other such vague claims on a back label, I don’t envision horns of silica and manure, or dynamizing Equisetum arvense. I picture an ancient tractor burning oil while indiscriminately blasting broad spectrum sprays

which may or may not contain heavy metals into the local ecosystem.

Farming challenges, much like Burgundian bottle price, can vary greatly from one side of a slope to the other. In high disease pressure growing regions, achieving Certified Organic status might force higher CO2 emissions due to fossil fuel intensive inputs. Harvesting healthy fruit by certification worthy standards likely requires broad spectrum biological sprays with limited longterm efficacy forcing frequent reapplication. Copper Sulphate, a foliar spray permissible by Biodynamics and Organic standards, is under heavy, near glyphosate level, fire as of late. Copper is, after all, a heavy metal and becoming a major concern in areas where its pervasive use results in soils becoming saturated with its presence. Surely soil toxicity due to heavy metal use counters the higher meaning by which these standards are meant to assure. Regardless of which product one chooses, all applied via the same mechanism - the almighty tractor, which for now, requires diesel. Wherever a tractor goes, soil compaction and exhaust emissions follow. Although as pastoral as draft animals are in vineyards, I’ve yet to encounter a horse with a PTO (power take-off) shaft, severely limiting implements they can utilize. Quantifying a broad, frequent approach against a deft, calculated, targeted and perfectly timed systemic spray approach with minimal applications is a question only individual farms can answer.

Mowing between vineyard rows appears benign in the grandiose world of vineyard management. In the Okanagan, where I spent a year farming, leaving every few rows un-mowed has many benefits. Longer grasses will provide insect habitat, increase biodiversity and may provide a little extra protection from wind eroding the topsoil. Depending on which pests are around animals which feed on the pests can mitigate one’s need for insecticide or conversely make undesirable insect problems worse. On Vancouver Island, where I have spent the majority of my growing career, leaving every few rows un-mowed has different effects. Due to fertile clay loam soils, grass can be seen growing - yes, that type of grass too. In 10 days, waist high, moisture retaining forage bolts which noticeably increases unwanted diseases pressure. Regular mowing also forces the cover crop to regrow and metabolize more water out of the soil hitting deficit earlier in the season. Water deficit results in earlier vine signalling to produce riper fruit with more flavour development as apposed to vegetative growth. Contrast this with clear cultivating which certainly dries out the soil quickly, thus hitting that same goal of early water deficit but at the risk of wind and water erosion not to mention virtually eliminating anything but vines from growing.

Every region wrestles with unique challenges. Farming pressures and consumer demand guide the wine industry more than I realized prior to joining it. Harvesting immaculately healthy fruit worthy of fine wine often requires intervention of some type. For good reason consumers are skeptical of these interventions. I argue the vast majority of Canadian wineries are very sensitive to the effects they have on their own air, soil, groundwater and community. As such they do what they can, given their unique challenges, to use as light a hand as possible to craft their luxury products. Wine from your local region also possesses the distinct advantage of not incurring the carbon emissions of transcontinental shipping - a debate in sustainability unto itself. Thank heavens for no simple answers in wine; I’m in it for the diversity and nuance. If your priorities are enjoying wine free from poison (besides the unavoidable 8.5%16% ABV), don’t want to leave scorched earth, a toxic ecosystem and undue atmospheric carbon behind you, consider this adaptation from someone we all respect - Drink wine, not too much, mostly local.

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