MED-GOLD seeks to demonstrate the proof-of-concept of climate services for risk management in the afri-food sector based on the use of historical climate records, seasonal and long-term climate predictions. The main expected outcome is to enable risk mitigation by enhancing adaptation actions linked to agricultural management with supporting information and policies.

To assess user needs for specific climate services in the grape and wine sector, Focus Groups were conducted with process managers of a wine company (SOGRAPE VINHOS) having an important grape and wine operation in the Douro Wine Region to get a feedback on the importance of prior knowledge of future weather in decision making.

The activities contducted durin MED-GOLD have brought a number of important results, including

1. the identification of relevant bioclimatic indicators (and associated essential climate variables) for the wine sector;
2. the definition of a compound risk index, the Sanitary and Heat Risk indices, definied as a combination of some of the aforementioned bioclimatic indicators;
3. identification of relevant vegetation indices based on remote sensing data from MODIS, LANDSAT8 and SENTINEL2 covering the pilot area in the Doure Wine region ;
4. the next development of an interactive Dashboard to display historical climate data, seasonal predictions and climate change projections according to user needs collected during the interaction with potential users.

These services will assist wine producers in managing risks within the framework of their medium and long-term business strategies. Furthermore, by providing seasonal forecasts at different spatial and temporal scales, MED-GOLD will help producers in dealing more effectively with grapevine protection against diseases and pests, increasing their bottom line.

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