Energy efficiency in the vineyard

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The aim of this study was to evaluate efficiency and energy costs of viticulture on farms operating at the same technological level. Process energy analyses have been conducted on five organizations specializing in viticulture and differing both in scale and in management techniques. Process energy was divided into seven categories of inputs, namely, fuel and electrical energy as direct inputs; and machinery, pesticides, fertilizers, buildings and vineyard planting, and various materials as indirect inputs. In calculating indirect inputs particular attention was given to the energy costs of mechanization; the notion of obsolescence was taken into account in determining energy costs. The results of these analyses, based on 3 years of farm reports, were abstracted using a series of indices such as the energy invested, the yield per hectare, the productivity of human labour, machine utilization, the productivity of invested energy (food energy produced per unit of energy consumed) and the inverse index that represents the energy cost of the product (energy consumed per unit of food energy produced). For the farms under consideration, this cost ranged between 0·78 and 2·21 J/J, with an average of 1·13 J/J. Despite the variability, the data shows some trends, e.g. the productivity of invested energy decreased as the energy investment itself increased; the labour was more productive as the degree of mechanization increased and was less productive as the surface area increased; direct inputs increased as the cultivated surface decreased.