The case of ‘Macho Rubio’ and why I’m for the non-fieldwork
by Raúl Acha29/06/2011
To end the topic of fieldwork that José Manuel started in the previous post and which we showed in chapter 16, I am going to tell you about what happened to me when I decided to stop doing any fieldwork in my family’s centenary vines. I am talking circa 1997 and 1998. I had just finished my degree in agricultural engineering and I also stopped cycling at a professional level, which I had been practicing for 6 years, so I returned with bundles of energy to take care of the family vineyard. We have a few hectares in a square layout, planted at 1.6x 1.6. We had been working them with a mule up to 1995, which was when “Macho Rubio – Blonde Male” died – the last mule my father had to work the vineyard. It was a sad day, although it was old. We then worked the vineyards with my uncle’s small articulating tractor, as a large one would not enter. I actually despised this tractor, because it was dangerous and it was nothing compared to Macho Rubio. Therefore, we only worked the vineyard with this tractor for a couple of years until one day I told my father that we were not going to work it any more. It sounded so sacrilegious that my father almost chucked me out of home, but a few years later, it proved to be a good idea and the vineyard even improved in spite of having centenary vines. So, now I can say our family vineyard, which is planted in a square layout, has not been worked in 14 years; meanwhile though, we have been maintaining the soil using other systems.
I have to recognize that during the first years of cultivation vines may need some support. It is then when fieldwork can be more crucial. I am talking about the first 5 or 6 years, which is when the vine’s rooting system develops fastest and fieldwork can be carried out to facilitate their implantation. Despite all this, we can see how Francesc Capafons, in vineyards on hillsides with poor and craggy land, is growing vines not only without carrying out any fieldwork but in full competition with weeds (which he says are not bad for the vine at all, in fact they are very positive). Therefore, the thought that fieldwork is essential to grow a vine is not so clear anymore.
Once the vineyards ‘s first years have passed, fieldwork seems to be even less necessary, up to the point where I believe that it is the worst way to maintain soil, regardless of the advantages it may provide.
After weighing the pros and cons of fieldwork, I choose no fieldwork, mainly because:
1 When fieldwork is carried out and the soil is too fresh (something very typical in spring), compaction is produced just below the worked and loosened soil and a hard and waterproof layer is produced called tillage pan.
2 Erosion is favoured, especially in vineyards with inclination – and there are many. In some cases, it can be dramatic; in an 80-year-old vineyard, for example, you can see how a few centimetres of land have been dragged due to run-off and the farming implement.
3 Sometimes infertile soil horizons are brought out (changing what nature has taken several eras to form).
4 We break superficial roots and sometimes whole trunks and vines.
5 We spend more time and gas (higher cost and greater carbon footprint).
6 In spring, the risk of frosts rises.
7 After it rains, accessing the plot is more complicated because of the mud (take into consideration that accessing the vineyard is sometimes necessary because a treatment has to be applied or the grape has to be picked).
Therefore, as fieldwork is not indispensable we can manage without it (if possible and they allow you).
And if we do not carry out any field work, which is the best system?
Well, clearly, if the weather and irrigation system allows it, the best system is growing vegetation covers, because it is ecological, it avoids erosion, it provides organic matter, it avoids compaction, and you can access the plot earlier after it has rained.
Only when competition for water is excessive, do we have to start thinking about eliminating the weeds. In our conditions, in La Rioja and most of the areas in Spain, the best system may be a mixed system, a vegetation cover until May or June and then the use of a herbicide as less aggressive as possible to eliminate this cover – continuously cutting it or even using sheep, as we already explained in chapter 5.
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