Cover crops & hedges
The living biodiversity that gives the farm organism its body.
Diverse ground cover, hedges and flower strips are the visible face of the farm organism. They give habitat to beneficials and pollinators, protect and feed the soil, and meet Demeter’s biodiversity quotas.
They share much with regenerative viticulture, but in biodynamics they integrate into the farm-organism concept and the work with the preparations and the calendar. They are managed as part of a living system, not as an isolated input.
Effort
Medium — establishment and seasonal management.
Cost
Low to medium — seed and plants.
Time to result
1–4 seasons for habitat to mature.
What it advances
Contribution by goal — click through for detail and metrics.
Biodiversity & farm organism
They are the living ecological infrastructure that gives body to the farm’s biodiversity and meets Demeter quotas.
Time horizon: 1–4 seasons
What to measure for this pairing
Soil vitality
The cover protects and feeds the soil with living roots and biomass, reinforcing its vitality.
Time horizon: 1–3 seasons
What to measure for this pairing
Demeter certification
Ecological infrastructure is a measurable Demeter requirement and must be documented.
Time horizon: Ongoing
What to measure for this pairing
Plant vitality & resilience
The diversity and beneficials the habitat sustains help regulate pests and balance the vine.
Time horizon: 1–3 seasons
What to measure for this pairing
How it works
Living cover and perennial habitat sustain beneficials, pollinators and soil life, giving body to the farm’s biodiversity.
How to apply
- 1Sow a diverse cover in the inter-row.
- 2Plant hedges and flower strips on the margins.
- 3Manage as part of the organism, in the calendar’s rhythm.
- 4Log the ecological-infrastructure area.
What to measure
Frequently asked
Is it different from cover in regenerative viticulture?
The practices are similar; in biodynamics they integrate into the farm-organism concept and the work with preparations and calendar, and count toward Demeter quotas.
How much area for biodiversity?
Demeter sets a minimum quota; margins, hedges and diverse cover are the practical way to meet it.
Related reading
Related practices
How GrapeFlow helps
Plan and document this practice by plot, with an audit-ready history for Demeter certification.
Traceability & the bottle story
From block to bottle, with a public QR per lot — the most direct way to show a buyer the work behind the wine.
Electronic field notebook (Portugal)
In Portugal, every operation — compost, cover, animals, treatments — logged by plot, with the DGADR notebook filling itself and staying certification-ready.
Phenology & field observations
Budbreak, flowering, veraison and everyday occurrences logged by plot and date — the vineyard’s real calendar, the one any work programme is read against.
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