MED-GOLD

IMPACT

Adapting to climate change

DESCRIPTION

This project aims to improve the current meteorological forecasts. Seasonal forecasts for the next seven months allow more efficient management of agricultural activities, particularly those that protect vines from diseases (mildew, rot, etc.) and extreme weather events (heavy rains, heat waves, etc.), better planning of harvests and wine stocks. The climate projections act on broader time frames forecasting the climate for periods of 30 to 100 years, supporting the decision making of long-term investments, such as the choice of regions, grape varieties, rootstocks, piping and irrigation systems or types of wines to produce when planting or restructuring vineyards.

MED-GOLD is a collaborative project where the three main agri-food sectors of the Mediterranean region come together in adapting to climate change. Three major companies from the wine, olive oil and durum wheat sectors have teamed up with some of the best European centres for climate science to transform the most advanced knowledge into practical and accessible climate services for technicians, consultants and farmers. The project also includes the participation of a University in Colombia (Universidad Militar Nueva Granada - UMNG) to demonstrate the transferability of the results to other agricultural sectors (in this case, coffee-growing) and other regions of the world

The project has demonstrated the ability to make simple-to-understand and easy-to-use climate forecasts for the wine industry to guide decisions on the ground given predicted changes. The industry can access these forecasts via the internet, and they are fully integrable into global climate databases, particularly those managed by the European Copernicus system.

As the only wine company participating in the project consortium, SOGRAPE is at the forefront of the wine sector's adaptation to global warming.

The project started in December 2018. It was initially designed to last 48 months but has been extended to 54 months because of the pandemic. The MED-GOLD project is run by a consortium of 16 entities from different countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Greece and Colombia. It is fully funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme and has an overall budget of around €5 million. All the project information can be seen at http://www.med-gold.eu/pt/home-page-pt/.

This project has received funding from the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme under contract number 776467