Indian Runner Ducks on snail patrol. Chickens let loose among the vines. Ancient Italian vineyards planted with fruit trees. Native wildflowers returning to South African wine farms. Growers experimenting with composting, planting crops among the vines to boost fertility and new ways of farming that work with nature rather than against it.
It might all sound a bit unusual, but behind every one of these ideas sits the same challenge: how do we help our farmers continue growing the top-quality grapes needed to make delicious wines, in a world that is becoming increasingly difficult to farm?
That's the question that led us to create the Climate & Nature Programme. It invests directly in practical projects in our growers' vineyards, from improving soils and creating wildlife habitats to helping vines cope with drought, extreme weather and disease. Helping our producers stay profitable and keep their businesses going.
What is the Climate & Nature Programme?
The Climate & Nature Programme provides funding for innovative projects in vineyards around the world. Every year, growers who make our wines can apply for support. They tell us what they want to do, why they believe it matters and how it could help their vineyard, their wines and the wider wine community.
The projects are hugely varied. Some involve planting trees, hedgerows and wildlife corridors. Others focus on improving soil health and fertility, reducing reliance on pesticides, restoring habitats, introducing animals back onto farms or trialling regenerative farming practices. Some are ambitious, landscape-scale conservation projects. Others are small, practical experiments.
That's exactly how we want it. The challenges facing a vineyard in Australia are very different to those facing a grower in South Africa, New Zealand, Bulgaria or southern France. Rather than telling our growers what they should do, we ask them what they believe will make the biggest difference on their land, then support the best ideas.
Why did we create the programme?
A few years ago, we realised we needed to do more to help our producers adapt to the challenges they are facing. Across the wine world, growers are dealing with hotter summers, longer droughts, water shortages, floods, wildfires and changing disease pressures. At the same time, many vineyard soils are becoming less fertile and less able to support healthy vines, making it harder to grow the top-quality grapes needed to continue making great wine.
No grapes, no wine
These pressures combined with the recent rocketing costs of inputs (fertilisers, pesticides, diesel etc.) mean the harsh reality is that if growers don't adapt, some will struggle to continue making the wines we know and love. It is, as Tamlyn Currin (sustainability editor at JancisRobinson.com) puts it, ‘essentially a question of survival’. We are already seeing vineyards abandoned in some regions as growing conditions become more challenging and economic pressures intensify.
Farmers cannot shoulder this transition alone. The challenge is too great. We need to do what realistically we can to help. Not another report or another target. Something tangible that could make a real difference on the ground.
So, we created the Climate & Nature Programme: a fund that helps growers invest in projects that are good for farmers, good for nature, and good for the future of wine.
What have we funded so far?
We have so far completed two rounds of funding, the first in 2024 and the second in 2025. To date, we have provided just over £120,000 to support 24 projects in eight different countries.
Since launching the programme, we have helped fund the planting of more than 800 trees, over five miles of hedgerows and shelterbelts, 1,700 flowering plants, five hectares of mixed cover crops and wildflowers, and the rewilding of more than six hectares of land. We've also supported a range of practical vineyard trials exploring how new equipment, different farming practices and livestock can reduce chemical use and improve soil health.
Some examples of projects we’ve supported
At Château d'Anglès in southern France, the ambition is wonderfully simple: plant enough trees that no vine on the estate is more than 50 metres from one. The project is helping create a more diverse landscape while improving soil health, creating habitats for wildlife and providing shade and shelter in an increasingly hot climate.
At Reyneke in South Africa, funding is helping restore native habitat and create a wildlife corridor across the estate. It's a project that benefits birds, insects and wildlife while also helping create a healthier and more balanced vineyard ecosystem.
In Italy, Scacciadiavoli is reviving an ancient growing system where grapevines and fruit trees share the same space. Flower-rich planting, trees and hedgerows are helping transform sections of the vineyard into something much closer to a functioning ecosystem than a conventional monoculture.
And then there are the ducks…
At Rustenberg in South Africa, Indian Runner Ducks are being used to help control vineyard pests naturally. Rather than reaching immediately for chemical sprays, the team is exploring how nature can do some of the work instead. Honestly, it's hard not to love a project involving 100 ducks.
>> Find out more about our 2025 winners
Is it working?
The honest answer is that we’re encouraged, but it’s still early days.
Nature moves at its own pace. A newly planted hedgerow does not become a thriving wildlife habitat overnight. Trees take time to grow, and rebuilding healthy soils can take years. We need to be patient and careful not to overstate what the programme has achieved.
The figures we report, including trees planted, hedgerows created and land being rewilded, come directly from the growers we fund. They provide regular updates, photographs and reports, but the results are not independently verified. Third-party verification is expensive, and we would rather put as much of our limited budget as possible into the projects themselves. We also trust the growers we work with to report their progress honestly.
It is also worth noting that The Wine Society does not necessarily pay for everything reported. Many growers add their own money, time, labour and materials, meaning the projects often achieve more than our funding could pay for on its own.
Even at this early stage, we are seeing promising signs. Wildlife corridors are becoming established, new habitats are taking shape and tree-planting programmes are underway. Growers are also reporting encouraging results from practical trials looking at soil health, water retention and reducing chemical use.
We're also learning a huge amount along the way. Some ideas work brilliantly – but one or two haven’t. Others need refining as we go. That's all part of the process. One of the most important aims of the programme is not simply to fund projects, but to share what we learn so other growers can benefit too.
Why does this matter to members?
There is another reason we think this programme matters.
Our members regularly tell us they care about more than what is in the bottle. They care about where wines come from, how they are grown and the people who make them. They care about the countryside, wildlife and family-owned businesses. They enjoy discovering the stories behind the wines they drink and understanding the places they come from.
The Climate & Nature Programme brings all those things together. It allows us to support growers we believe in, back ideas that might otherwise never happen and build even stronger relationships with the people who make our wines. It gives us a reason to stay in touch with producers throughout the year, learn from them and share their stories with members.
We also believe there is something exciting about helping vineyards become healthier, more vibrant and more full of life. Many of the growers involved in the programme believe these approaches not only benefit nature but also help them produce more balanced grapes and wines that better reflect where they come from.
Ultimately, this programme is about investing in the future of wine while bringing members closer to the people and places behind the bottle.
Helping growers farm more regeneratively
If there's one theme that links many of the projects we've funded, it's regenerative viticulture.
Now, I know that sounds like one of those sustainability buzzwords, but the idea is actually pretty simple. At its heart, regenerative farming is about improving the health and fertility of soil, which in turn improves the whole vineyard ecosystem. In practice this means using fewer harmful chemicals and less ploughing, so we don't disturb the life within soil, keeping plants growing in the ground all year round, and feeding it naturally with compost and grazing animals. Add in a rich mix of plants and wildlife, and the land actually gets healthier and more fertile every year – instead of slowly wearing out and being depleted.
A vine growing in a healthy and fertile soil is like a person eating real food, exercising, and sleeping well – it's stronger, feels better and is more resilient and so is able to handle heatwaves, drought, and disease better.
And many wine producers are increasingly convinced (and a growing body of research concurs) that vines drawing from rich, fertile, living soil produce better grapes. They talk about wines with more character and freshness that actually taste of the place they came from.
Why invest in vineyards rather than carbon offsets?
This was one of the original ideas behind the programme.
Many companies invest in carbon offset projects. Typically, that means paying for climate projects somewhere else in the world that remove carbon from the atmosphere or prevent emissions. There is nothing wrong with that approach, but we wondered whether there might be a better way.
Instead of sending money elsewhere, could we invest directly in the vineyards our wines actually come from?
After all, many of the things our growers want to do already help tackle climate change. Planting trees, increasing soil organic matter, keeping the ground covered with vegetation and restoring natural habitats can all help remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in plants and soils. But unlike a traditional carbon offset project, they often deliver a whole range of other benefits too: more birds, insects and wildlife, healthier soils, cleaner water, less reliance on synthetic chemicals and vineyards that are better able to cope with difficult growing conditions.
We sometimes describe this approach as ‘insetting’ rather than offsetting. Instead of investing somewhere disconnected from our business, we're investing directly in the growers and landscapes we work with. The result is that the same investment can help tackle climate change, restore nature, strengthen farms and support the long-term future of wine. That feels like a much more tangible connection between climate action and the wines in your glass.
More than a grant programme
The Climate & Nature Programme isn't really about grants. At its heart, it's about farmers. It's about family businesses trying to navigate a changing world. It's about people experimenting, learning and trying new things. It's about helping nature recover in some of the places that produce the wines we love most, while supporting the people who are prepared to roll up their sleeves and make a difference.
We certainly don't have all the answers. But we do believe that helping farmers care for their land, make even better wines and have stronger businesses is one of the most practical and hopeful things we can do for the future of wine.
>> Read more about mixed farm vineyards
>> Find out what we’re doing differently in 2026 and how you can play a part
