Organic Viticulture World-Wide

Summary

In most wine growing countries organic viticulture is now becoming more and more important. In most non-European countries organic viticulture is still in an initial stage and the number of organic vineyards is still small.
The expansion of organic viticulture is hindered by the fact that in many countries incentives are provided for growers to adopt integrated pest management. Such incentive schemes are generally supported and promoted by the government, the chemical industry and conventional producer associations. As demand for conventional wines is booming, market forces do not provide much incentive for growers to convert to organic production methods. The limited knowledge about organic viticulture also poses a severe restriction of its expansion. Many conventional wine growers only have very little information about organic production techniques. However, there is also growing concern about decreasing soil fertility among some of the large corporate wine growers in Australia who are looking for more “sustainable” means of production.
The organic producer associations in many countries do not have sufficient expertise about organic viticulture yet. Therefore, various specific organisations for commercial organic wine growers were formed recently in countries such as New Zealand (Organic Wine Growers’ Association), Australia (Organic Vignerons Association) and South Africa (Cape Organic Growers Association).