A job still too much misjudged and nevertheless determining for all the life of the vineyard.

The annual Congress of the French Federation of the viticultural nurserymen was just held on the 19^th October 2011 in Aix Les Bains.

It’s the opportunity to draw the attention on a job essential to the wine producing sector: the nurserymen represent in number a small minority of professionals who have difficulties to become known faced with a majority of users of their products ; they wish their job be rediscovered by the wine producing sector.

The invasion of phylloxera and the generalization of grafting have completely changed the running of the vineyard; one generation ago some viticulturists made their grafting themselves in France in regions where the climate is the warmest (for instance in Roussillon the graft on the spot called Cadillac); nowadays this job is entrusted to specialized firms: the nurseries.

This trade tended to concentrate in the course of years, nowadays some 600 professional cards are still left delivered by FranceAgrimer, the official parent organization in charge of the control. Most of the nurserymen are also viticulturists.

On the technical level there are different tasks and each firm can hold concurrently part or the whole.

• Cultivation of mother vines of rootstock for the elaboration of cuttings which can be grafted (essentially in the South).
• Cultivation of mother vines of grafts (in the whole of the vineyard in France or even abroad, often operated by a viticulturist under contract with the nurseryman).
• Production of roots of rootstock (for grafting on the spot rare nowadays).
• Production of grafted vine plants (two products: pot plants which will be planted directly the very same year of the grafting or root plants which will be planted one year after the grafting after integrating the nursery).

This latter activity is the most important and the most technically elaborated; it’s the one which mobilizes all the know-how and the creative energy of the nurseryman.

On the economic level this trade suffered from the viticultural crisis during the years 2000; it was boosted by the operations of restructuration of the vineyard financed by the European Union and by the needs to comply with the specifications of the AOC.

Since many years this trade wants to make understand to the viticulture its difficulty to anticipate the demand in the different categories of grape varieties and in the pair grape variety/rootstock.

Indeed, grafting is made in year N and the vine planted in year N + 1; one year and a half are necessary to have a vine plant and the success rate in nursery varies according to the years. The trade requests to have a better association with the strategic guidance of the vitivinicole sector so that they can meet the demand of their customers more satisfactorily.

On the level of research and training the trade points out several aspects: the disposal of lands for the setting up of mother vines is a permanent concern; indeed the solution consists in healthy soils free from diseases with virus, that means plots where no vine has been planted for at least 12 years.

The best successful plantations take place precociously as from autumn: nurserymen wish that the plantations be spread over winter to avoid their concentration in spring and sometimes later on with the risks of failure as the season goes on (let’s note that the nurseries often make themselves the plantations for their customers).

The trade requests this job to be taught the young people: it does not exist yet a training module in the schools of agriculture.

With the distribution of its vine plants the trade takes part in the diffusion of the brand ENTAV-INRA (issued from the name of the two French organizations of selection) used on more than the three quarter of the vine plants sold in France and abroad, the royalties are paid half by the nursery and half by the viticulture (8€ for 1000 vine plants).

The treatment of vine plants using warm water against the “flavescence dorée” or even against the diseases of wood is made in close collaboration with the nurserymen.

At last, the trade plans for the future collaborating on the French varietal research and the genetic knowledge of the grape varieties through the project VITI-NEXT which rallies researchers in many subjects.

On the level of regulations and controls the parent organization is FranceAgrimer who is in charge of the external control; more and more nurseries ensure their own control making themselves their labels.

For further information please refer to “Vitisphere” website dated 31^st October and 2^nd November 2011.

FranceAgrimer website gives in details statistics of the trade (figures of the viticole trade…..vine plants…..statistics data 2010).

The technical explanations are on “Onivins” website (professional site…vine plants).