Future Winegrowing Platform

This “Future Winegrowing” platform investment in Bragato Research Institute is distinct from the previous establishment support provided to BRI.

The Future Winegrowing platform will develop six areas. These areas of focus in the programme all have a research, development, and extension component, and in some cases, may utilise BRI’s unique capabilities to develop new services for winegrowing and its support sectors. Each project will create new knowledge through research and development, and then use extension and other service delivery options to deliver benefit to the winegrowing sector, and beyond. Consistent with BRI’s purpose, the programme will address the current and ongoing challenges of productivity, profitability, and economic, environmental, and social sustainability for winegrowers. A key focus will be resilience in an increasingly changeable and uncertain global environment. Underpinning each of the focus areas is an intention to develop capabilities and offerings that will, together, support BRI’s ongoing financial sustainability.

The Vineyard Systems project is an ambitious initiative to conduct a first-principles examination of how changes to vineyard design and viticultural practices could enhance the productivity, profitability, sustainability and resilience of viticulture in NZ. The programme will be built on an understanding of the physiology of grapevines in NZ conditions, and the way in which vineyard systems interact with the physical environment.

A Soils and Environment project will address key environmental management challenges and opportunities facing the winegrowing industry, seek to develop new approaches to enhance sustainability through improved environmental management of winegrowing businesses – particularly with respect to soil health, and help winegrowing businesses maintain and enhance environmental performance and compliance.

An Accelerating Technology project will support and facilitate applied research to enhance the uptake of technology and data-driven solutions into NZ winegrowing. The benefits of this project will be economic, environmental and social, as a wide range of technologies enhance business management and support skills development in the sector.

A Testing and Trial services project will bring together BRI’s unique combination of viticultural expertise, science capability and research winemaking to deliver scientifically robust answers to questions that challenge our viticulturists, winemakers and supporting sectors. The project will include a focus on BRI’s three established areas of expertise, namely winemaking, applied research/extension, and grapevine improvement.

BRI’s research winery will be the focus of a project to find new ways in which this modern food research facility can utilise spare off-peak capacity to deliver research or production services to beverage, food and biotechnology businesses within, or outside the wine sector.

BRI will also investigate the establishment of a Focus Vineyard network, to enhance the extension and uptake of new knowledge in winegrowing regions, and to encourage the winegrowing industry to invest in science at all levels.

Overview

The Future Winegrowing Platform (FW) contract was a focused addition to BRI’s establishment Regional Research Institute (RRI) contract. BRI’s original RRI contract focused on the establishment of the Institute as a research company, reflecting the policy objective of the RRI fund - “…to maximise the unique business, technology and economic growth opportunities by establishing research centres that help build research and development intensity and lifted innovation in key regional industries.”

The subsequent FW contract was a research platform plan, intended to transition BRI to financial sustainability through the development of new revenue streams. The FW contract, signed on 21 September 2021, started on 1 July 2021 and expired on 30 June 2023 – a period of two years. 

The FW workplan was delivered in two distinct phases, representing two different approaches to developing pathways to financial sustainability. From July 2021 to June 2022, BRI investigated several areas with potential to deliver sustained revenue streams. 

• Development of a Vineyard Systems programme, with objective of Crown funding partnership
• Soils and Environment, Research and Consultancy – soil research and delivery of science-based consultancy services
• Accelerating the integration of technology into NZ’s wine sector – facilitating the uptake of new technologies into the winegrowing sector
• Testing and Trial services – using BRI’s viticultural and winemaking experience and assets to deliver science services to individual customers
• Winery revenue growth – finding new uses for BRI’s research winery outside the wine vintage
• Focus Vineyard Network – developing a network of regional vineyards as a focus for research and extension to winegrower members

Of these projects, the Accelerating Technology, Testing and Trial services, Winery Revenue Growth and Focus Vineyard Network projects had a focus on developing revenue streams from winegrowing members and other clients willing to buy services from BRI. The Soils project investigated more traditional research-based opportunities, and commercial consultancy services. 

After one year of investigating these options, the BRI Board directed a refocusing of the FW platform on building BRI’s science capability, and on the development of activities to increase BRI’s ability to carry out high quality science, and to attract support for that science from investors in science, including the Crown. A new plan for the second year of the contract was developed, and included:

• Continuation of the Vineyard Systems programme development (now named Next Generation Viticulture (NGV)
• Several research and development projects to support the NGV programme
• Soil projects focused on research and extension rather than consultancy
• Development of a Viticultural Research Unit
• Capability development in a new application of molecular biology (non-GM) approaches to horticultural crops, with a focus on grapevines
• Wine science strategy, capability and extension.

Science excellence

Research programmes and projects

BRI developed a major new area of research in vineyard systems, known as Next Generation Viticulture

(NGV). The work focuses on using approaches developed in other crops, to increase light interception and partitioning of carbohydrate to grape fruit, delivering increased yield, quality, and sustainability benefits. 

In 2022/23, BRI established preliminary canopy management trials, a rootstock trial, and baseline vine performance benchmarking trials. All these trials are generating data that feeds into BRI’s development of new canopy and vineyard configuration options. Plant and Food Research have built capability in grapevine plant modelling and their models combine graphical representations of plant form with physiological data. This is a powerful combination that can substitute for some aspects of physical trials and can in some cases, substitute for some aspects of lengthy filed trials. The modelling has highlighted the significance of the opportunity is to re-design the grape production system to more efficiently convert sunlight into increased yields of high quality fruit. Our data indicate an increase of over 1.5x current yield is sustainable in re-designed grape canopy systems. 

A vineyard financial model was developed to enable management approaches to be compared for their impact on vineyard financial performance. 

All these workstreams fed into BRI’s work on developing a large, long-term research programme to deliver Next Generation Viticulture vineyards. 

BRI continued the second year of a study investigating how undervine management of weeds affects grape yield, juice quality and soil microbes. Undervine management affects plant growth, fruit yield and fruit quality, and affects the rapidly-changing microbial populations of the soil. Following further analysis, the results of this work will be published in scientific journals, and will be part of an extension programme to winegrower members. 

A literature review has identified areas in which robust science is required to equip growers with new and sustainable soil management options. 

Science strategy

During 2022/23, BRI used Future Winegrowing support to develop a strategy and plan for wine science, and to develop a programme of wine science extension. Prof. Andrew Waterhouse (UC Davis) and Prof. Bruno Fedrizzi (UoA) collaborated with BRI to develop a wine science strategy, informed by member workshops held in Auckland, Marlborough, and Hawke’s Bay. A national members’ survey increased the coverage of the strategy consultation. The wine science strategy will inform BRI’s wine science activities for the next three to five years, with annual updates. 

Science oversight

BRI commissions an annual review of its science quality, delivered by external contractors. In 2021/22, the review was conducted by Prof Dr Astrid Forneck, (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, (core expertise, viticulture)) and Dr Andrew Waterhouse (Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Research, UC Davis (core expertise, winemaking)). In 2022/23, the science to be reviewed was all in the viticulture discipline, so Prof. Forneck conducted the review. The reviews are a valued, objective assessment of BRI’s science activities. 

Collaborations

The Next Generation Viticulture programme and its supporting projects include substantial collaborations with Plant and Food Research. The project brings together PFR’s modelling capability and BRI’s network of collaborating growers, combining field and virtual experiments to increase progress of this viticultural project. When the NGV programme is fully underway, PFR staff will be key collaborators. 

The Viticulture Research Unit has developed commercial relationships, which in turn have led to winemaking collaborations in BRI’s research winery. 

Using FW funds, BRI is developing a base of knowledge from which a new molecular biology will be built in the control of plant growth and development. That work will extend beyond wine grapes, and BRI is developing a group of collaborators for the intended programme. 

Along with PFR, BRI maintains active collaborations across programmes with the University of Auckland, University of Canterbury, Lincoln University, Lincoln Agritech, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. 

Science impact

Extension and knowledge transfer

BRI developed an extension strategy based on the recently completed Pinot Noir programme, and outputs from other sources, to deliver a package of knowledge of use to grower members. Three extension workshops were delivered, in Wairarapa, Marlborough and Central Otago. The workshops focused on equipping growers to use best known practice in their businesses. 

Winegrower member participation in science

The NGV programme and its supporting projects are all based on trials located in member vineyards. This involves grower members in all phases of the research and gives them a direct connection to trial results and the application of science in their businesses. This approach also encourages wider uptake, as growers prefer to learn from their peers, and by seeing and doing, rather than by being lectured. 

In the soils area, the findings of the literature review and the grower survey have redirected the focus of the next stage research project from focussing on field trial work to establishing the baseline, identifying key measures for soil health and monitoring soil health. The project has also identified priorities for extension. 

Grower involvement in applied research trials

BRI’s Viticulture Research unit carries out applied research trials for individual commercial clients. In

2021/22, projects were delivered for two clients, and in 2022/23, for seven clients. All clients to date have been providers of agrichemical or similar products, to New Zealand viticulturalists. All trials were carried out on commercial properties, collaborating with winegrower members and their staff. 

Capability development

The second-year FW plan included the recruitment of eight new science staff to support BRI’s development of science capability and delivery of research projects. The appointments made were:

• Two postdoctoral scientists in a new molecular genetics project
• Two field technicians working across the NGV support projects and the Viticultural Research unit
• A lab technician working across the molecular genetics project and other work such as the SB2.0 programme
• A Technical/Extension specialist working in the NGV and supporting projects
• A Wine Science programme manager
• A GM of Research and Innovation, delivering science leadership across BRI

BRI has recently appointed a soil scientist to continue work in that area. This appointment recognises the importance of sustainable soil management to winegrowing.  

Vision Matauranga

BRI recognises the need to consistently incorporate mātauranga Māori in shaping and conducting its research.

BRI project managers are aware of the importance of incorporating Māori perspectives into research planning and delivery. Projects BRI has recently developed have had a much stronger focus on ensuring Māori engagement than in the past, and the benefits of this are being reflected in their design. In particular, the Awatere Wētā project, the Shared Vision for Land Use in Marlborough project, and the forthcoming Soils project, each incorporate iwi engagement. The soil analysis component of this work in particular aligns with the holistic long term, multi-generational sustainability principles of Māori as it looks to understand the management approaches to build sustainable soil health into the future.

BRI also continues to benefit at a governance level from Māori representation on the Research Advisory Committee from Jeff Sinnott, a representative of Tuku Māori Winemakers Collective, and the President of the New Zealand Society for Viticulture & Oenology.

The Independent Research Association of New Zealand, of which BRI is a member, has received

funding to develop a programme – the Ngā Mahi Ngātahi IRANZ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Programme – to upskill members in mātauranga Māori as it applies to independent research. This programme is under development. The CEO will attend the initial event, a multi-day marae-based hui focussing on Māori research and researchers. 

Governance

BRI is governed by a Board of Directors, chaired by Mr Mark Gilbert. During the contract period, the Directors were:

• Mr Simon Towns (NZ Winegrowers’ representative),
• Dr Dianne McCarthy CNZM and CRSNZ
• Dr Bruce Campbell CNZM, and
• Prof Charles Eason CNZM.

The BRI Board meets approximately six times per year and has oversight of all aspects of BRI’s business and activities. This includes financial performance and financial sustainability, risks and their mitigation, science quality and member relations. The BRI Board has two active subcommittees, Finance and Risk, and Science Advisory.

The BRI Board is accountable to the New Zealand Winegrowers Board for the performance of BRI. A subcommittee of the NZW Board, the Research Advisory Committee, advises BRI management and indirectly, the BRI Board, on matters of industry interest and priority.

The Board has overseen the establishment and growth of BRI, and in 2022 confirmed BRI’s current strategy, which sees BRI at the heart of an evolving, sophisticated wine innovation system, and includes a focus on increasing the New Zealand-specific science output and science quality in BRI.

Financial sustainability

The Future Winegrowing platform has helped BRI achieve financial sustainability by:

• Enabling BRI to recruit new science staff who will develop research proposals and deliver research and innovation
• Directly supporting the development of funding proposals and applications
• Developing new sources of revenue from industry and commercial clients

The contribution of the FW contract to BRI’s ongoing financial sustainability will be new funding streams and funding applications delivered post-contract. These include the putative NGV contract, the intended Endeavour application based on the Tuned Vines work, Soils SFFF, continuation of the Viticultural Research Unit services to commercial clients, an intended application for partnership in an expanded wine extension workstream, and other wine science. The FW contract has enabled BRI to advance work in all these areas simultaneously; this would not have been possible without the MBIE partnership in the contract. 

This “Future Winegrowing” platform investment in Bragato Research Institute is distinct from the previous establishment support provided to BRI.

The Future Winegrowing platform will develop six areas. These areas of focus in the programme all have a research, development, and extension component, and in some cases, may utilise BRI’s unique capabilities to develop new services for winegrowing and its support sectors. Each project will create new knowledge through research and development, and then use extension and other service delivery options to deliver benefit to the winegrowing sector, and beyond. Consistent with BRI’s purpose, the programme will address the current and ongoing challenges of productivity, profitability, and economic, environmental, and social sustainability for winegrowers. A key focus will be resilience in an increasingly changeable and uncertain global environment. Underpinning each of the focus areas is an intention to develop capabilities and offerings that will, together, support BRI’s ongoing financial sustainability.

The Vineyard Systems project is an ambitious initiative to conduct a first-principles examination of how changes to vineyard design and viticultural practices could enhance the productivity, profitability, sustainability and resilience of viticulture in NZ. The programme will be built on an understanding of the physiology of grapevines in NZ conditions, and the way in which vineyard systems interact with the physical environment.

A Soils and Environment project will address key environmental management challenges and opportunities facing the winegrowing industry, seek to develop new approaches to enhance sustainability through improved environmental management of winegrowing businesses – particularly with respect to soil health, and help winegrowing businesses maintain and enhance environmental performance and compliance.

An Accelerating Technology project will support and facilitate applied research to enhance the uptake of technology and data-driven solutions into NZ winegrowing. The benefits of this project will be economic, environmental and social, as a wide range of technologies enhance business management and support skills development in the sector.

A Testing and Trial services project will bring together BRI’s unique combination of viticultural expertise, science capability and research winemaking to deliver scientifically robust answers to questions that challenge our viticulturists, winemakers and supporting sectors. The project will include a focus on BRI’s three established areas of expertise, namely winemaking, applied research/extension, and grapevine improvement.

BRI’s research winery will be the focus of a project to find new ways in which this modern food research facility can utilise spare off-peak capacity to deliver research or production services to beverage, food and biotechnology businesses within, or outside the wine sector.

BRI will also investigate the establishment of a Focus Vineyard network, to enhance the extension and uptake of new knowledge in winegrowing regions, and to encourage the winegrowing industry to invest in science at all levels.