In 2019, we joined the Mi.Di.Fen.Do project, which was created with the aim of finding a preventive method of combating flavescence dorée (FD), a disease that causes serious damage to viticulture, especially to organically managed farms. The method uses recent knowledge on the natural defense routes of vines against this disease.

The main results expected from this experimentation are:

• The identification of volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) that can activate defense pathways against FD in the vine;
• The identification of microorganisms capable of producing them naturally.
• The innovation lies in stimulating a specific defense pathway that some vine varieties already use against FD, namely the jasmonate pathway; this will allow a higher probability of achieving the expected results.

The added value lies in greater economic (reduced production losses) and environmental sustainability (they are natural compounds) and, therefore, greater farm competitiveness.
All wineries, especially organic ones, that currently have ineffective means of defense against FD are interested.
Activities include the testing of different MVOCs, identification among them of the best ones in terms of effectiveness, cost, biodegradability, and in parallel microorganisms capable of producing them are identified.
In addition to our winery, the project sees the collaboration of several parties including other agricultural companies and then the Consorzio Tutela del vino Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco, the Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria Centro di Ricerca viticoltura ed enologia and the University of Verona - Department of Biotechnology.