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A new Decision Support System (DSS), named vite.net®, was developed for sustainable management of vineyards and is intended for the vineyard manager (the person who makes decisions about the vineyard management or suggests the proper actions to the grape-grower). The DSS has two main parts: (i) an integrated system for real-time monitoring of the vineyard components (air, soil, plants, pests, and diseases); and (ii) a web-based tool that analyses these data by using advanced modelling techniques and then provides up-to-date information for managing the vineyard in the form of alerts and decision supports. The information is tailored to a vineyard, or part of a vineyard, or a number of vineyards that are uniformly managed throughout the season. In the design and development of vite.net®, the so-called ‘problem of implementation’ which frequently leads to under-utilization of the DSSs was specifically addressed by different solutions, including involving potential users. Large-scale application of the DSS started in 2013 and was preceded by: i) expert elicitation (to obtain end-user opinion on the usability of the DSS compared to their standard methods and tools to make decisions about vineyard management); ii) plot-scale application (to evaluate the DSS in comparison with the usual practice in different vine-growing areas of Europe); iii) pilot-scale application (to evaluate the DSS use as a part of the decision processes of growers, taking into account the individual attitude of the users towards the Internet and web-based systems, as well as their attitude toward risk). The DSS vite.net® has been made commercially available from January 2013 and during the 2013 season it was used by 47 farmers who applied the DSS on more than 3000 hectares of vineyard across Italy, and to 46 advisors. Statistics about the use of the DSS by these growers based on their access to the web portal of vite.net® as well as the feedback collected during the regular contacts with the grower

A new Decision Support System (DSS), named vite.net®, was recently developed for sustainable management of vineyards. The DSS is available in real-time on a web platform, accessible through personal username and password. The DSS is based on: i) a network of weather stations, ii) a server repository able to store weather data and site-specific information on cultural management (such as the list of treatments applied), iii) a set of mathematical models, that use the data collected in fields as input data to produce useful information about the tactical management of treatments and other cultural practices. After a pilot application in organic viticulture, the DSS was used on large scale by about 50 farmers and 50 technicians (both private and public) in different Italian grapevine growing areas, from Friuli to Sicily, on about 3,000 ha