Viticulture: progress, risks and opportunities

The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), represented by its research group in "Plant Protection and Food Safety" and the REACH&CLP Helpdesk participated in the 7^th edition of the "Lëtzebuerger Wäibaudag" which took place the 4^th February 2015 at the Centre Culturel of Wormeldange. The event was organised by the Lëtzebuerger Wënzerverband in cooperation with the Institut Viti-Vinicole with the objective to provide an overview of the progress done by the sector, the risks, but also the opportunities.

Within this framework, the Helpdesk REACH&CLP Luxembourg, a service provided by LIST in partnership with the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure and the Ministry of the Economy, has presented on its booth the new European regulation that will enter into force on the 1^st June 2015 and concerning the classification, packaging and labelling (CLP) of chemical mixtures to which also the plant protection products widely used by the sector belong. To safely handle these products, it is important for the sector to be aware of the new common communication rules about the risks involving the use of these products (cf. new labels, new pictograms, etc.).

Dr Daniel Molitor, researcher at LIST's "Environmental Research and Innovation" (ERIN) department presented strategies for delaying grape bunch rot epidemics, which is critical under Luxembourgish growing conditions to achieve optimum wine quality. Indeed, ERIN works in strong collaboration with the Institut Viti-Vinicole on several research projects linked to crop protection and wine quality.