VITICAST is an innovation project whose purpose is to provide innovative solutions for the prediction of fungal diseases in vineyards, by developing a tool which will combine meteorological data, the phenological stage, the concentration of fungal spores and observations from the technicians at the plot level.

And is that the sector, as it is explained in the article about VITICAST in the latest number of the Asociación de Enólogos de Castilla La Mancha (AECLM) magazine, faces every year the main grapevine fungal diseases (powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis), which may cause serious economic losses. Against this threat, is common to apply an excessive amount of phytosanitary products, which impoverish the quality of the wine and reduces the sustainability of a key sector in the Spanish agrarian system.

The article emphasize how the predictive models developed by VITICAST are able to optimize the use of phytosanitary products, making it possible to apply them only when it exists a real and objective risk of infection. This models will contribute to obtain a higher quality wine and a more sustainable production.

In addition to FEUGA, the Operational Group VITICAST is comprised by Monet Tecnología e Innovación, the Estación Fitopatolóxica Areeiro (EFA, Deputación de Pontevedra), the University of Vigo, and the cellars Viña Costeira, Hacienda Monasterio and Matarromera.

VITICAST is an innovation project 80% co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) of the European Union and 20% by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, within the framework of the National Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. The General Directorate of Rural Development, Innovation and Agrifood Training (GDRDIAT) is the authority in charge of the application of this aids. Total project budget: €615,249.08. Total grant: €599,957.08.

FEUGA is responsible of this content.