The Delinat Institute conducts studies for a climate-positive farming with high biodiversity. The research foundation's laboratory is located in the middle of its vineyard in Wallis (CH), where practical methods and strategies for an ecologically and economically sustainable quality wine-growing are being developed.

Agricultural ecosystems can only be sufficiently stabilized by well-directed boosting of biological diversity. Instead of using pesticides and synthetic fertilizers which weaken self-regulatory powers, natural forces must be stimulated and directed so that nature itself assists the farmer's efforts. With equal or even higher productivity, agriculture could provide a significant contribution to climate protection and the conservation of biological diversity. However, it demands a reconception of some central principles of modern agricultural practices.

Researchers from the Delinat Institute do not have ultimate answer and may even more often err in their scientific pursuit despite their commitment and rigor to achieve reliable results. Their work is, however, based on their firm determination not to use the human intelligence as a menace to existence but rather as an instrument to attain sustainable development of habitats.

Network of unconventional thinkers
The Delinat Institute's team is comprised of ten people. Among them are a biologist, a wine-grower, an environmental engineer, a gardener, an ecologist, an agronomist and a philosopher. They do not just specialize in their respective disciplines, but like in an ecosystem, they and their disciplines are tightly linked with each other forming a network of knowledge.

The seat of the Delinat Institute is located on it's vineyard in central Valais, Switzerland. This almost five-acre area is not only where most of the experiments are carried out but also where wine, vegetables, fruits, medicinal herbs and honey are produced. The comprehensive master plan ranges from soil activation and carbon sequestration until ecostabilisation through biodiversity and mixed cultures and testing intelligent material cycles and alternative bioenergy production.

Interns and trainees as well as students doing their master's and PhD theses are supervised at the institute. Soon there will also be laboratory space and accommodation for visiting scientists.

Public involvement
Delinat Institute disseminates most of its findings not only to interested groups but also to the general public through education, consultations, publications and the media. In the institute's vineyards, visitors can participate in regular tours and thus experience and understand the possibilities and prospects of an environmentally sustainable, climate-friendly agriculture with high biodiversity.

In order to understand an ecosystem, especially from a scientific point of view, we need to learn to prioritize the whole before grasping the detail. The detail gains its relevance only after having an overview of the whole. It's nature.