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Penfolds Wines award Mobius Farms innovation grant
Jeannine Malcolm ● 2024-07-18 ● Research
Jeannine Malcolm ● 2024-07-18 ● Research
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We're excited to share that Mobius Farms has been awarded a prestigious Penfolds Evermore Grant! This recognition highlights our commitment to sustainable winegrowing and provides us with the opportunity to innovate even further.
Penfolds is a legend amongst global wine. It is one of Australia’s oldest wineries and is currently part of Treasury Wine Estates. Core to the philosophy of Penfolds is a deep respect for tradition paired with a strong spirit of innovation.
The Penfolds Evermore Grant is a competitive program designed to recognize and support Australian businesses and organizations being innovative and creating impact in their local communities.
The Penfolds Evermore Grant epitomises the commitment by Penfolds to support sustainability and innovation beyond the bounds of the winery. 2024 grantees include a social enterprise recycling used clothing textiles, an environment group improving biodiversity in regional infrastructure and a Farmer’s market reducing consumerism through a ‘kitchen tool library’.
Global trends in sustainable winegrowing include the desire to decrease carbon emissions through renewable energy use, waste reduction and recovery, and supply chain and logistics efficiency improvements. Furthermore, there are an increasing number of wine producers adopting organic, biodynamic and natural wine production methods.
At Mobius Farms, sustainability is at the core of everything we do. From upcycling food waste to using electric vehicles for deliveries; we strive to minimize our environmental impact. We believe that there is always a better way to do more with the resources we have through reducing, reusing and recycling.
In early 2023, we were approached by a 6th generation Barossa wine grape grower, Tammy Schutz. She’d learned about the composting capabilities of the black soldier fly larvae and was curious to know if they would consume grape marc. Grape marc is the skins and seeds that remain after the wine fermentation process. Each year, thousands of tonnes of grape marc are produced across Australia.
Traditional methods of handling grape marc include composting, distillation and feedstock. What if insect bioconversion could convert grape marc into a vineyard soil improver faster, producing less green house gases?
Our preliminary research, supported by Barossa Australia and Wine Australia, has shown promising results. Black soldier fly larvae can effectively consume grape marc, reducing its volume significantly and producing nutrient-rich insect frass. This natural fertilizer has the potential to improve soil health and vineyard productivity including the reduction of chemical usage.
Post vintage 2024, Mobius Farms provided insect frass to Schutz Barossa to conduct vineyard application trials during seeding of their cover crop.
Co-founder Chris Malcolm, recently presented this research at the Insects to Feed the World Conference in Singapore in June, 2024.
The Penfolds Evermore Grant will enable us to deepen our research into the benefits of insect frass for vineyards. We'll be studying its impact on soil health, nutrient uptake by vines, and overall grape quality. In 2026, the Insects to Feed the World Conference will be hosted in Torino, Italy where we hope to present our findings from the Penfolds Evermore research project.
We are incredibly grateful to Penfolds for recognizing our commitment to sustainable winegrowing. The Penfolds Evermore Grant is a tremendous validation of our efforts and provides us with the opportunity to make a real difference.
At Mobius Farms, we believe that sustainability is not just a responsibility, but an opportunity. By embracing sustainable practices, we can ensure the longevity of our vineyards, produce exceptional wines, and protect the environment for future generations. We are committed to working alongside other like-minded wineries and researchers to build a more sustainable future for the Australian wine industry.
Join us on this journey! To learn more about our sustainability initiatives and discover how you can contribute to a greener wine world.