Determination of Energy Balance in Grape Production for Wine in Thrace Region

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine energy usage productivity in grape production for wine in the Thrace region of Turkey. Questionnaires were given to farmers to determine agricultural production inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural machinery, and time and fuel consumption, as well as yield. Energy equivalents of the production inputs and yield were calculated to establish an energy budget for grapevine production. According to the results, the energy rate was calculated to be 9.72. Net energy was 105,855.37 MJ ha(-1). Specific energy and energy productivity were 0.10 MJ kg(-1) and 0.82 kg MJ(-1), respectively. Direct energy and its share were calculated to be 3936.05 MJ ha(-1) and 32.41%, respectively. Indirect energy and its share of the total energy budget were 8208.58 MJ ha(-1) and 67.59%. Renewable energy was calculated to be 743.27 MJ ha(-1), representing 6.12% of wine grape production. Renewable energy use was low because the agricultural inputs used in all stages of production were almost fully based on nonrenewable energy, which was 11,401.36 MJ ha(-1), representing 93.88%. The share of chemical fertilizer was 32.40% of the total energy budget, followed by diesel (26.29%) and pesticides (24.44%). Fungicides were used mainly to protect vineyards. Agricultural machinery was generally used for soil tillage and for chemical fertilizer and pesticide application. Fuel consumption for soil tillage (81.48%) accounted for a large proportion of total fuel consumption. Human labor was used for pruning, removal of leaves and branches, harvesting, and packaging. Future work should focus on improving vineyard mechanization and preventing overfertilization and pesticide use in vineyards.