“There’s always a story. It’s all stories, really... change the story, change the world.”

— Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

EchoTrack + Andrew Peller Ltd. | Oliver, British Columbia

Increase vineyard resiliency by incorporating native plants as cover crops and improve soil quality.

Spearheaded by Rhonda Millikin of EchoTrack, the collaborative project involves EchoTrack, RootShoot Soils, and Andrew Peller Ltd. Its primary objectives are to enhance grapevine health by improving the biological communities of the soil, incorporating native plants as cover crops and monitoring the native bat population in the area. RootShoot plays a crucial role in the project by producing thermophilic compost piles for liquid biological treatments and quantifying nematode populations to determine the most effective approach for soil restoration.

March 2021. Ongoing.
Grapes
~7 ac between three different vineyards owned by Andrew Peller Ltd.
• Grapes are grown in dead, structureless soil.
• Vineyards frequently use fungicides to prevent and treat powdery mildew.
• Lack of proper equipment to apply biology.
• Overall, the lack of support from management in adopting the new practice left the execution entirely to our team.

• We demonstrated the success of using liquid biological treatments such as compost teas instead of conventional chemical applications to prevent and treat powdery mildew in grapes.
• Only the grapes in our test plots were harvested after a wet 2022 growing season. On the other hand, powdery mildew wreaked havoc in the conventional plots despite the frequent use of fungicides.
• This project, funded by federal government grants such as the Habitat Stewardship Program, limits our ability to fully execute our methodology within the agricultural realm.
• Vineyard management's reluctance to embrace soil health practices.
• Field observations.
• Nematode Functional Group Assay by RootShoot Soils
• Initial soil chemistry and texture testing by TerraLink in Abbotsford.