"A lot comes back from practice"

Linnéa Hauenstein has been working as a researcher and advisor in the Viticulture & Enology group at FiBL Switzerland since 2021. A trained winemaker, she has a Bachelor's degree in Viticulture and Enology and a Master's degree in Organic Agriculture and Food Systems.

We would have liked to interview you earlier, but you were busy digging up tea bags. What does that have to do with organic viticulture?

We are doing two projects to understand the interaction of trees in close proximity to the vine in what are called vitiforest systems. Through the teabags that we bury ten centimetres deep into the soil, we can see if there is a different rate of decomposition near the tree compared to the free-standing vine. This activity of the soil life is strongly linked to the availability of water, an increasing problem with climate change. The trees provide more shade and more organic material, for example foliage, which can lead to better infiltration of heavy rain and improved soil structure.

How is the topic of Vitiforest received by professionals in practice?

Vitiforest is a current topic in practice. In arable farming, there are already some promising results. In viticulture, on the other hand, the scientific data situation is still quite poor; we would like to deliver the first results for viticulture in Switzerland in the next four years.

PIWI varieties, i.e. fungus-resistant vines, are an alternative in viticulture. What can PIWIs do better than conventional varieties?

Their advantage is that they are resistant to powdery and downy mildew. Organic viticulture is not possible without plant protection, especially not with European varieties and in wet summers. If we use PIWIs, we need up to three quarters less pesticides and can save many hours of labour. This energy and labour can then be used in other areas, for example soil health or for biodiversity measures. This does not mean that traditional and European varieties can be replaced. It is not about an either-or, but a safe coexistence.

The Viticulture & Enology Group is already working on the next generation of climate-resistant grape varieties, the Kliwis. What does this mean for viticulture?

You mention our Interreg project KliwiResse. It is led by researchers from Germany, and my colleague Dominique Lévite and colleagues in France are involved. It's about varietal differences, for example in susceptibility to sunburn or heat damage.

You are researching grape varieties that adapt to climate change instead of using your energy to fight the causes of the crisis. Is that resignation?

I don't know if I want to call it resignation. But we now accept that it really isn't like it was in grandfather's day and we are trying to adapt operations to it. I find the changes of the last few years impressive. I remember my first years as an apprentice winemaker, when you weren't used to everything starting earlier and earlier: The winemakers were still on holiday, the press was not yet cleaned. With the farm successors who are being trained today, a different approach is now coming to the vineyard than perhaps the pioneers of organic viticulture had.

Intensively cultivated vineyards and nature conservation, how does that fit together?

In row crops you have an incredible amount of unused space: in between. This space can be upgraded by planting species-rich seeds that can fix nutrients or ensure better root penetration and revitalisation of the soil. This also benefits the vine. Here at FiBL we created a rock pile with branches and hedge structures in an unused point row in spring, which can serve as a refuge for small animals without taking space away from the vines. Used in this way, biodiversity and viticulture go well together.

You have a vineyard yourself?

Yes, but only as a hobby, on the weekends. Winemaking is the profession I learned first, and it's also very important to me to be able to ground myself a bit now and then and not just float in the sphere of vitiforest with tea bags. Just being able to stand in the vineyard on the weekend and know what I'm doing it for.

You are also close to practice in your role as an advisor. How do you make yourself heard as a young woman in viticulture?

At the moment I am writing the bi-weekly plant protection bulletin Winzerinfo together with the cantons. I also organise courses and exchange experiences. I have been working in viticulture for some time and was very well trained on wineries and in my studies of viticulture and enology. It is quite frustrating to not be recognised directly as a young woman. However, it usually only takes a short time before people realise that I am competent, that I like to listen to the producers and that I can help them. Only when we exchange experiences and are willing to learn from each other can we bring out the best. It is therefore important to promote this exchange, be it with events and excursions or through networking with project enterprises.

What is your vision for your future work at FiBL?

In our enlarged group we now have much more power at FiBL to get closer to organic winegrowers again and to capture their needs. With the Vitiforest project, for example, we are already striking a nerve with the producers and can be interesting and relevant. A recent excursion to Germany with twenty winegrowers from German-speaking Switzerland to look at such systems was a real sense of achievement for me. This is where I see the future role for FiBL and for me: a dual role between consultancy and practical research. A great deal of valuable experience comes back from practice, which can be fed into research at FiBL if we succeed in being a platform for networking and exchange.

Interview: Sabine Reinecke; Collaboration: Beat Grossrieder

This is a shortened version of an interview that appeared in issue 8/23 of the Bioaktuell magazine. It is available as a PDF in German, French and Italian.

Further information

Links

• orgprints.org: Interview in the Bioaktuell magazine 8/23 (in German)
• orgprints.org: Interview in the Bioaktuell magazine 8/23 (in French)
• orgprints.org: Interview in the Bioaktuell magazine 8/23 (in Italian)