Careful and sustainable management of the soil
An ergonomic soil management technique with low environmental impact used in organic and biodynamic farming suitable for the control and maintenance of the grass surface. It is the choice to opt for the herbaceous flora not as an antagonist
of crop management, but as a solution close to many problems.
Grassing – Management of the organic soil
Why opt for natural grassing?
- The increase of the biodiversity of the upper ground (beneficial insects) and the subsoil (fungi, bacteria, arthropods, annelids).
- To reduce erosive phenomena while maintaining the organic substance content, with agronomic advantages such as in sloping vineyards.
- To reduce or avoid the use of expensive fertilizers.
- To balance the combination of herbaceous plant-culture and climate-plant-soil.
Benefits and advantages of the grassing
- It reduces soil erosion by 75%: this is demonstrated by the Sicilian agriculture that has chosen to apply the grassing technique to overcome the problem of excessive water availability and consequently reducing the processing as much as possible.
- Sustainability and eco-compatibility of agriculture: less need to use nitrates from mineral fertilizers that could cause leaching phenomena, thus causing pollution of groundwater and surface watercourses. It is important to underline that the life cycle of earthworms is not interrupted due to the causes mentioned above, thus also increasing the natural fertility of the soil.
- Lower costs for the purchase of fertilizers: the choice of nitrogen-fixing species such as vetch, field bean and clover, increase the nitrogen content in the soil; in turn, the grassing allows to manage the availability of the nitrates of the soil leading to an increase in the period of greater nitrogen requirement for the vineyard and a decrease during the period of greater rainfall, limiting any leaching phenomena.
- It favours the ripening of the fruit: regulating the availability of the nutritive elements allows the limitation of the vegetative vigour of the plants, thus reducing the overlap of the shoots and the shading with positive effects on the health of the fruit.
- Higher quality of the musts: the grassing influences the quality of the musts and the wines as it favours a good maturation of the grapes and therefore the achievement of a balanced relationship of the different components (all according to compatible methods).
Gianfranco Cordero tells about benefits and advantages of the grassing