Harvest management during COVID19 crisis in the Southern Hemisphere – what can we learn from it?

19 May 2020

On 29 May at 12pm CET, the OIV will hold a webinar on how the pandemic hit the Southern Hemisphere during the grape harvest. 5 speakers from the Southern Hemisphere will explain how the vitivinicultural sector adapted to the situation on short notice to ensure the continuity of the grape harvest, what means and tools were implemented and what consequences it had.

PROGRAMME

In the current situation, it is the role and privilege of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) to help inform and support the wine sector. The OIV relies on an international panel of experts from 47 countries and works on sharing and disseminating good practices throughout the world.

Moderated by Antonio Graça, Secretary of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change experts group of the OIV (Portugal), this webinar will bring together five speakers from Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa to discuss the challenges of managing the COVID 19 crisis at grape harvest time in the Southern Hemisphere.

SPEAKERS

Tony Battaglene, Australia
Chief Executive of Australian Grape and Wine Incorporated

Jeffrey Clarke, New Zealand
General Manager Advocacy & General Counsel of New Zealand Winegrowers

Yvette Van Der Merwe, South Africa
Executive Manager, South Africa Wine Industry Information and Systems (SAWIS)

Aurelio Montes, Chile
President, Wines of Chile

Daniel Rada, Argentina
Director, Argentine Wine Observatory / Professor of International Economics, National University of Cuyo, Argentina


MODERATOR

António Graça
Head of Research and Development at Sogrape Vinhos SA, Secretary of Sustainable Development and Climate Change experts group - OIV

REGISTRATIONS

OIV Webinar [EN]
Friday 29 May 12 pm (CET)

Please register here

About the speakers

Tony Battaglene

Tony Battaglene is the Chief Executive of Australian Grape and Wine Incorporated (Australian Grape & Wine). Australian Grape & Wine is Australia’s national association of grape and wine producers, representing their interests at the national and international level. Australian Grape & Wine was incorporated on 1 February 2019 after Winemaker’s Federation of Australia (WFA) and Wine Grape Growers Australia merged to form a single representative body. Prior to taking on the Chief Executive role at Australian Grape and Wine, Tony Battaglene was Chief Executive of WFA.

Vice president of the Economy & Law OIV commission Tony Battaglene as had a distinguished career working in the research, policy and agri-political space. He has worked as a scientist and economist before moving into a policy role with the Australian government.

Jeffrey Clarke

Jeffrey Clarke has been General Manager Advocacy & General Counsel of New Zealand Winegrowers since 2014. New Zealand Winegrowers is the unified national organisation for all of New Zealand's winemakers and independent grape growers. The organisation currently has approximately 700 grower members and 700 winery members.

He is a Vice-President of FIVS (International Federation of Wines and Spirits), represents New Zealand industry at meetings of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, and is a Director of The Tomorrow Project, a social change charity working to make responsible drinking the norm in New Zealand.

Yvette van der Merwe

President of the Expert group on Economic analysis, markets and consumption under the Economy Commission at the OIV, Yvette van der Merwe is the Chief Executive Officer of South African Wine Industry and Systems (SAWIS). She deals with certification of wine in terms of the Wine of Origin Scheme of the Liquor Products Act and the management of statistical information in terms of the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act.

Aurelio Montes


Aurelio Montes is a graduate Agricultural Engineer from the Catholic University of Chile and a renowned Chilean oenologist. He is a pioneer in hillside plantations in Chile and contributed to the recognition of Chilean wines abroad. Aurelio's own winery, Montes Wines, pays specific attention to the development of a sustainable culture at all stages of the production process. He also worked on wine-growing regions that were originally not planted with vines and explored new areas to cultivate vines.

Daniel Rada

Graduated in Economics, Daniel Rada is Tenured Professor of International Economics at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, of the National University of Cuyo, and Lecturer in International Monetary Economics at the same university.

From 2008 to 2014, he worked as Assistant General Manager of the Corporación Vitivinícola Argentina (COVIAR), in charge of the Administration and Financial Management. During this period, he was involved in issues related to the wine industry, addressing aspects of corporate strategy development, sectoral studies, monitoring of the strategic plan (development of goals, indicators, etc.), project evaluation and development of information on the vitivinicultural sector.

He was in charge of the formulation and implementation of the Argentine Wine Observatory project and is currently its Director.

About the moderator

António Graça


António Graça is the Head of Research and Development at Sogrape Vinhos SA. He holds a MSc. degree in Oenology. In 2009, he cofounded PORVID - Portuguese Association for Grapevine Diversity, being in its Board of Directors since. He acts as Secretary with the Sustainable Development and Climate Change expert group of the OIV. He assisted in the creation of the first European research agenda for the wine industry by the CEEV - Comité des Entreprises Européennes de Vin, published as position paper in 2016. Antonio has published several scientific works, co-authored OIV expertise documents and is currently focusing on genetic resources conservation, climate change adaptation, resilience and precision management of production systems.