Rheinhessen awards Sustainability Award 2016

Category viticulture:

Modular Phytobac system - a contribution to water protection

In the category viticulture, the jury selected the Phytobac system developed by Bayer Crop Science together with Beutech AGRO. The award-winning product represents a modular system which, as a supplement to the field cleaning of plant protection equipment, captures washing water and residual amounts of pesticides during device cleaning and thus prevents intermittent stress and contamination of the surface water. The washing water then is put into a dese Phytobac contaner and disposed equally over the vivid farmland. The microorganisms, that naturallyoccur there, degrade the pesticides and the clean water evaporates. The farmland is enriched from time to time only with straw chaff. The Phytobac® system is a useful supplement to field cleaning.

With the Phytobac system, a considerable contribution to water protection can be made. The system is recommended as a filling and cleaning station for user communities. For the future, the two project partners are testing whether the method can be adapted to oil residues too. Then, on the long run, an oil separator for the cleaing stations would no longer be needed.

Open Category:
Biodiversity check - a project to promote biodiversity

In the open category, the jury awarded the Biodiversity Check, which was developed by ECOVIN together with the Lake Constance Foundation and the Global Nature Fund. The Biodiversity Check will be made available to all interested companies for free usage. It examines the influence of the various business sectors of management, cultivation and production in the vineyard, cellar management, purchasing, sales transport and communication / marketing with regard to impacts on biodiversity, one of the key issues in the context of sustainable management. So far, around 40 companies have participated in the biodiversity check and are gradually working on sections of the comprehensive check. The biodiversity check is available to all wineries for free, so that everyone can gradually contribute to the promotion of biodiversity. Detailed information on the Biodiversity Check is available at http://www.ecovin.de/wissen/biodiversity.