Ettore Capri: Championing Sustainable Innovation in Wine Production

Paula Silva

At the upcoming 4th Science & Wine World Congress, Professor Ettore Capri will share his insights on sustainability and digital innovation in the wine and olive oil industries. As a renowned expert in agricultural chemistry and director of OPERA, Capri has led numerous international projects focused on risk assessment, environmental protection, and sustainable food systems.
A recent study co-authored by Capri explores how blockchain technology could help the wine industry monitor and certify sustainability practices. The research highlights blockchain’s potential to improve transparency, traceability, and efficiency across the supply chain. However, it also outlines key barriers to adoption, including limited knowledge, technical skills, high implementation costs, and challenges in integrating blockchain with existing systems and capturing qualitative sustainability values.
Despite these hurdles, Capri remains optimistic about the role of blockchain in building more sustainable and accountable food systems, especially with the support of coordinated efforts across the industry. His keynote will offer timely reflections on how scientific research and digital tools can support the green transition in agriculture.

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Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Grape Stems: A New Frontier in Wine Industry Sustainability

Paula Silva

A recent study highlights the untapped potential of grape stems from the Douro region, traditionally considered waste, as rich sources of bioactive compounds like selenium, tryptophan, and polyphenols. Touriga Nacional stood out for its high antioxidant capacity and nutrient content. These compounds have promising applications in cognitive health, mood regulation, and oxidative stress prevention. The study supports a circular economy approach in the wine industry, reducing waste while opening new economic opportunities. However, challenges such as extraction efficiency, regulatory approval, and market acceptance must be addressed. Future efforts should focus on product development, consumer education, and investment in innovation to fully harness the benefits of grape stem-derived compounds.

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Advancing Sustainability: Linking Wine and Olive Oil Production to a Greener Future

Paula Silva

Sustainability of wine and olive oil production is crucial for addressing climate change, resource scarcity, and shifting consumer demand. By integrating tradition with innovation, these industries can adopt practices, such as regenerative farming, renewable energy, and precision agriculture, to enhance environmental, economic, and social outcomes. The 4th Science & Wine World Congress in Porto will highlight these advancements, featuring workshops, case studies, and expert discussions on sustainable vineyard and olive farming practices, climate resilience, and the socioeconomic dimensions of sustainability. This event underscores the role of research, collaboration, and policy in driving a greener future for agriculture.

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Tracking physical activity patterns linked to neck and back pain in viticulture workers: Insights from objective measures

Paula Silva

e Lavor et al. (2024) examined the relationship between physical behaviors and musculoskeletal pain in viticulture workers, particularly focusing on neck, upper back, and lower back pain. Using accelerometers, they measured workers’ physical activities—lying down, sitting, standing, and walking—during work and non-work hours. The results showed high pain prevalence: 60% had lower back pain, 52% had upper back pain, and 46.7% had neck pain. Standing was predominant during work hours, while sedentary behavior was common during non-work hours. Increased sleep was correlated with less neck pain, whereas sedentary behaviors during non-work hours were linked to more upper back pain. No specific physical behaviors were associated with lower back pain, suggesting the presence of other factors, such as cumulative strain. This study emphasizes the need for occupational health interventions in viticulture, including ergonomic adjustments, promoting physical activity outside work, and encouraging good sleep hygiene to reduce pain.

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Deep Planet: Pioneering AI for a Sustainable Future

Paula Silva

Founded in 2018 by Oxford University scientists, Deep Planet is an AgriTech company leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to address environmental challenges in agriculture, particularly in the wine industry. Their platform, VineSignal, offers precision tools for vineyard management, including optimal harvest timing, yield forecasting, disease detection, precision fertilization, soil carbon sequestration, and smart irrigation. These AI-driven solutions promote sustainability and resource efficiency, helping farmers and winemakers improve crop quality and minimize environmental impact. Deep Planet seeks partners to collaborate on advancing sustainable agriculture globally.

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4th Science & Wine World Congress – Energy, sustainability, and green transition in wine and olive oil production

Paula Silva

The 4th Science & Wine World Congress, scheduled for May 28-30, 2025, in Porto, will gather experts and stakeholders in energy, sustainability, and agriculture. This year’s congress, held under the University of Porto’s auspices, will spotlight sustainable practices and the green transition in wine and olive oil production. Selected to coincide with World Energy Day on May 26, the congress emphasizes the significance of green energy solutions for these industries. Attendees can explore energy-efficient practices like renewable energy use, precision agriculture, and waste heat recovery, as well as innovative technologies like digital labeling and smart farming. These advancements not only reduce environmental impacts but also enhance product quality and efficiency.

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The Influence of Climate Change on Portuguese Wines

Paula Silva

Climate change is having a profound impact on Portugal’s wine industry, a key part of its cultural and economic heritage. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events are creating challenges for traditional wine regions like Douro, Alentejo, and Dão. Warmer temperatures are accelerating grape ripening, leading to wines with higher alcohol content and lower acidity, while unpredictable rainfall causes water stress and increases the risk of disease. Extreme weather, such as heatwaves and hailstorms, can devastate vineyards, particularly in regions vulnerable to soil erosion. To adapt, winemakers are experimenting with heat- and drought-resistant grape varieties and implementing new vineyard management practices, but the costs of these changes are significant, especially for smaller producers. As the climate continues to shift, the quality and consistency of Portuguese wines are at risk, with potential economic and cultural consequences.

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Viticulture and the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): Historical overview, current situation and future perspective

Paula Silva

The paper emphasizes the importance of disseminating agroecological knowledge and implementing nature-based strategies to ensure the successful application of the CAP reforms. It calls for a collective awareness and effort from all societal sectors, including producers, consumers, and policymakers, to embrace environmental protection measures in agriculture. The paper also stresses the need to communicate effectively the benefits of biodiversity conservation and natural soil processes to accelerate the adaptation of agricultural systems to environmental challenges.

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Enhancing employee wellbeing and happiness management in the wine industry

Paula Silva

This research examines the connection between Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) and Sustainable Performance (SP) in Spanish wineries, emphasizing the mediating roles of Employee Wellbeing (EW) and Work Engagement (WE). This study is pertinent, given the growing focus on sustainability as a core business strategy. To refine the precision of the examined cause-effect relationships, variables such as the age and size of the winery and membership in a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) are incorporated as controls. Utilizing a conceptual model informed by prior studies, this study employs structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze data from 196 wineries collected from September 2022 to January 2023. The findings highlight a positive and significant link between GHRM practices and the SP of these wineries, with EW and WE serving as partial mediators. The significance of this study lies in its contribution to the understanding of GHRM’s benefits in enhancing SP, particularly in the Spanish wine industry, a context not extensively explored in previous research. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the mediating effects of EW and WE on the GHRM-SP relationship in this sector, marking a notable advancement in this field.

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Management practices, and not surrounding habitats, drive bird and arthropod biodiversity within vineyards

Paula Silva

This post is about a paper that concluded that individual management practices are more influential on vineyard biodiversity than the habitat context, overall management regime, or certification status. This study recommends that sustainability accreditation schemes focus on reducing the ecotoxicity of agrochemicals used and encourage the promotion of higher ground vegetation cover by reducing herbicide use to benefit vineyard biodiversity.

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