An international project to reduce the use of copper in vineyards gets underway. Under the name Coppereplace, 13 partners from 3 countries will work on this R&D&I project. It has funding of more than 1 million euros from the Interreg Sudoe Programme.
Coppereplace is an innovative initiative that looks to Europe to offer integrated, sustainable solutions aligned with environmentally friendly production methods. It focuses on reducing the use of copper in the vineyard. A total of 13 Spanish, French and Portuguese entities from the wine sector have joined forces to significantly reduce the use of copper in viticulture, as well as its environmental impact.
The Coppereplace R&D&I project is led by the Wine Technology Platform and approved for funding by the Interreg Sudoe Programme. Coppereplace has a timeframe for its development between November 2020 and February 2023, as well as a strong international consortium formed by the Wine Technology Platform, Associaçao para o Desenvolvimento da Viticultura Duriense (ADVID), Institut Français de la Vigne et du Vin (IFV), Institut Français de la Vigne et du Vin (IFV), Centro de Valorización Ambiental del Norte (CVAN), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-UMA), Vignerons Bio Nouvelle Aquitaine (SVBNA), EURECAT Foundation, Universidade do Porto (GreenUPorto), University of Vigo, the wineries Sogrape Vinhos, LBS (Gérard Bertrand), Familia Torres and Jean Leon.
In addition, the consortium is supported by the consultancy firm Artica Ingeniería e Innovación (artica+i), which acts as the technical office of the project, providing support in the design and definition phase of the proposal, as well as in the monitoring and technical-economic justification of Coppereplace.
Coppereplace will create a network of stakeholders that will include not only winegrowers, but also other representatives of the international wine scene, in order to involve all stakeholders in the project so that they can contribute their knowledge and expertise.
The project, whose full title is "Development and implementation of new technologies, products and strategies to reduce copper application in vineyards and remediate contaminated soils in the SUDOE region", has a budget of more than 1.6 million euros and has received more than 1 million euros in funding from the South West Europe Territorial Cooperation Programme (Interreg Sudoe) co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Coppereplace will be responsible for validating a series of integrated, innovative and viable solutions to reduce the use of copper in viticulture and its environmental impact. These solutions will be transferable and sustainable, so that the wine sector complies with the new European law (which reduces the maximum doses of copper use), promoting environmentally friendly production.
