A report from the 5th harvest at the Oasis Vineyard Field Trial has been prepared, and is ready for viewing.
See the full PDF here:
Oasis Vineyard Trial: 5th harvest, Final Draft, 12.12.2023
INTRODUCTION
Excerpt from Full Report:
"The Oasis Vineyard Trial began in 2016 as a California Department of Water Resources funded grant project led by Sonoma Ecology Center (grant admin), UC Riverside (principal investigator), Monterey Pacific Inc (vineyard manager), and Pacific Biochar (biochar supplier) to study the impact of biochar and compost treatments applied pre-plant in newly established vineyards under a standard irrigation and fertilization regime. After 7 years collecting data, covering 5 harvest seasons, significant emerging trends are highlighted with discussion below.
- Harvest Yields were increased by an average of more than 35% where biochar and compost were applied together.
- Harvest Yields by Season. In the lowest-yielding harvest years, all treatments showed exceptionally high percentage of yield improvement, with compost + biochar greater than 70% in the third harvest.
- Economic Impact. All treatments had a positive return on investment by second harvest, and by fifth harvest provided $9,752, $12,569 and $14,937 additional revenue per acre where biochar, compost, and biochar+compost were applied, respectively.
- Grape Quality was not significantly affected
Methods, Materials, Results, Analysis, etc
Download the full report here (5 pages): Oasis Vineyard Trial: 5th harvest
CONCLUSION:
Excerpt from Full Report:
"Measured over a period of 5 harvests, all treatments of biochar and compost resulted in significant yield increases without significant changes observed in quality. The yield increases from all treatments were greatest in the lowest yielding years, suggesting that the treatments helped mitigate yield loss due to adverse conditions. All treatments received the same irrigation and fertilization regime, demonstrating increased water and fertilizer use efficiency. All treatments were profitable by second harvest, dramatically more so in fifth harvest, and with an intriguing potential for biochar applications to provide continued returns for the lifetime of the vineyard and longer."
Download the full report here (5 pages): Oasis Vineyard Trial: 5th harvest
