Project submitted under the call for supra-regional Operational Groups within Spain’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027, with expected funding from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, EAFRD.
The project’s total planned budget is €590,618.83, of which €487,697.56 is allocated to technical results and €102,921.28 to knowledge transfer and dissemination activities.
The ECO-UVA Operational Group brings together a wine cluster and five grape-growing and winemaking companies located in different Spanish regions. This composition will allow the technologies to be tested under real operating conditions and across different vineyard structures, training systems, climates and production models.
INNOVI, Catalan Wine Cluster: Representative of the Operational Group and organisation responsible for overall coordination, activity monitoring, internal communication and cooperation among project members.
Codorníu, SA: A wine company with extensive vineyard holdings in several production areas. It will participate in field trials, particularly in the Raimat vineyards, to validate UV-C and ozone treatments, electric machinery and autonomous systems.
Viñas del Vero, SA: A wine company located in Aragón that will test the technologies under production and climatic conditions representative of the Somontano area.
Explotaciones Agrícolas San Miguel, SLU: An agricultural company operating in the Ribera del Cinca area of Aragón. It will participate in operational trials and in the validation of the technologies under real working conditions.
Legaris, SL: A wine company located in Castilla y León that will help assess the adaptability of the technologies to conditions in the Ribera del Duero area.
Bodegas Beronia, SA: A wine company based in La Rioja that will participate in field trials and in the technical, environmental and economic assessment of the proposed solutions.
The project will also receive support from several subcontracted organisations. AGROTECNIO, a research centre linked to the University of Lleida, will be responsible for scientific and technical coordination, supervision of experimental activities and statistical analysis. The Spanish Wine Technology Platform will support knowledge transfer and dissemination, while GALA Media will contribute to communication activities. ZABALA Innovation will provide assistance with project submission, monitoring and administrative management.
Spanish viticulture has major economic, social, territorial and cultural importance. However, the sector faces challenges related to climate change, increasing production costs, dependence on fossil fuels and the recurring use of plant protection products.
Diseases such as powdery mildew and downy mildew can cause major crop losses and require repeated treatments during the growing season. In both conventional and organic viticulture, disease control still relies heavily on sulphur, copper and other fungicides, resulting in economic costs, environmental risks and increasing regulatory pressure.
A substantial proportion of vineyard operations is also carried out using combustion-engine tractors. Agricultural machinery is one of the main sources of energy consumption and direct CO₂ emissions on winegrowing farms. Although electric tractors, autonomous vehicles and precision agriculture technologies are advancing, their autonomy, power, charging systems, manoeuvrability and costs still need to be tested under real vineyard conditions.
ECO-UVA addresses these challenges by combining residue-free treatments based on UV-C light and ozone, electric agricultural machinery, and digital and autonomous systems that can apply treatments more accurately.
The cover of the project proposal shows an initial prototype carrying out a night-time UV-C treatment in a trellised vineyard in Raimat, which represents the technological starting point of the project.
The main objective of ECO-UVA is to reduce the carbon footprint of viticulture through the implementation of clean, digital and automated technologies, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable, efficient and competitive production model.
The project will develop a proprietary UV-C technology to control powdery and downy mildew, validate ozone as a plant protection treatment, assess the performance of electric tractors and quantify the associated energy savings and avoided greenhouse gas emissions.
It will also validate an autonomous electric vehicle for UV-C treatments, compare the project’s own prototype with a commercial autonomous system, and assess all solutions from technical, economic, environmental and operational perspectives.
The final objective is to produce practical recommendations and scale-up strategies suited to different vineyard and farm models.
Activity 1. Sustainable disease control
A proprietary UV-C application system will be developed and tested against powdery and downy mildew. The trials will assess disease-control efficacy, treatment dose and frequency, coverage, and potential effects on the vines, beneficial organisms, pests and grape quality.
Ozone will also be tested as an alternative or complementary treatment, and application protocols will be established according to crop development and environmental conditions.
Activity 2. Decarbonisation
Electric tractors will be tested in trellised vineyards, bush-trained vineyards, slopes, narrow rows and other representative conditions. The assessment will cover autonomy, power, speed, working capacity, charging time, manoeuvrability, ergonomics and compatibility with different implements.
The results will be compared with conventional machinery to estimate energy consumption, operating costs and avoided greenhouse gas emissions.
Activity 3. Digitalisation and automation
An autonomous electric vehicle equipped to apply UV-C treatments will be validated under field conditions. The project will assess navigation accuracy, treatment coverage, disease-control efficacy, energy consumption and safety.
The project’s prototype will then be compared with a commercial autonomous system in terms of performance, automation, ease of use, operating cost and adaptability to different vineyard conditions.
Activity 4. Validation and assessment
All technologies will be evaluated using common indicators covering efficacy, costs, energy consumption, emissions, safety, user acceptance and scalability.
The results will be used to prepare comparative reports, practical guidelines and recommendations to help winegrowers and wineries select the solutions best suited to their circumstances.
Project results will be disseminated through a dedicated website, social media, newsletters, technical articles, innovation factsheets, audiovisual materials, regional workshops and field demonstration events.
The activities will target winegrowers, wineries, cooperatives, technology companies, research organisations, public authorities and civil society. The planned dissemination period runs from January 2026 to the end of April 2029, with national coverage and particular attention to Catalonia, Aragón, La Rioja and Castilla y León.
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