In 1986,1 commenced the oenology degree as a distance education student at Charles Sturt University (CSU).One of my first subjects was vineyard establishment and I was intrigued at the then practice to'dip-rip'the soil foLlowed by extensive spraying with a weedicide/herbicide,essentially to ensure that vine growth wouLd not be restricted through competition with the previous growth in the parcel of land.Such a strategy was perhaps understandable,given the then urgent need to expand grape production.The practice would of course be detrimental to the natural soil microflora,something that would detract from the concept of the site's terroir potential.During my time as Director of the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre,the plant pathology researchers carried out a one-year study of the microbiological population of a biodynamic vineyard.A more active and disperse population was found in the biodynamic vineyard than in vineyards maintained by conventional crop management methods.This was in the early days of biodynamic cultural practices in Australia,and the trial was not continued owing to lack of funding support.
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