Assessing soil erosion risk and soil protection requirement in North Italy’s vineyards

Viticulture in North Italy is a very important sector for the local and global economy because it generates a positive impact on cultural and natural landscapes. Traditional vineyard management has been preserved over the years, creating a perfect environment for growing vines also in steep and very steep slope areas.

Climate change emphasizes intense and localized rainfall, which increases the risk of erosive processes in steep slope areas, making here the vineyard farm much delicate.

The study, carried out within the scope of the Italian research program AGRITECH (Spoke 4), develops an erosion index called Potential Erosion Index (PEI), using stations and satellite data from Google Earth Engine for Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions. PEI estimates 5 levels of climate-topographical aggressiveness against the soil. Therefore, an application of a USLE-type tool was studied to identify areas where precise field verification is needed for protective practices, creating a map on the degree of protection requirement (Pr). Future climate models from CHELSA dataset were implemented to detect possible future trends in soil erosion and soil protection requirement.

The results indicate that, under the SSP585 scenario, the PEI values give rise to a potential worsening of soil erosion in the northern part of the region and to an improvement in the southern part during the period 2071-2100. The present condition of Pr shows areas that have a Pr > 50% and 75% affecting 30% and 13% of the total area, respectively. Part of these areas are also localized in vineyard farms. Future projections indicate also an increase of the Pr in the 2041-2070 period, less visible in the 2071-2100 period.

The findings of this study highlight the importance of an upgradeable investigation on the future trends of soil erosions in steep agricultural land. In fact, their quantification can be supportive, particularly in a variable climatic scenario, for drafting management guidelines and planning policies in cooperation with stakeholders.