A Venezuelan has created a website to help vine growers in Tenerife fight phylloxera.

David Rivas Vergara from Caracas, Venezuela, created the website filoxera.es. This is very relevant because Tenerife is facing the threat of phylloxera, a vineyard pest, for the first time. On the website, David combined his knowledge as an agronomist (he studied at a school in Tacoronte, where the outbreak of phylloxera was found) with his experience in IT and internet marketing.

Although David grew up in the city, agriculture is not foreign to him. He says he was lucky to recently purchase the domain filoxera.es, which miraculously turned out to be available.

"I am a technician-technologist in viticulture, but I have never worked in my specialty," says David. After graduation, he went completely online, engaged in advertising, e-commerce, and technology. He says he learned everything himself.

He has great respect for the farmers of Tenerife and hopes that his website will help them cope with phylloxera. "I just collected all the available information and made it convenient for everyone," explains David.

He adds that his education helped him understand the importance of the problem and how quickly it is necessary to act, considering the consequences of phylloxera in history.

David believes that the value of the website is that it presents information in simple language. He recalls that they studied phylloxera in theory for a long time and know how important it is that this pest never reached the Canary Islands.

At the age of 19-20 (David is now 34), he realized that he wanted to do something else: "I did an internship, and I liked it, but the internet attracted me more, so I decided to work in this field."

David is the son of Canarian emigrants. His grandparents were from here, and his parents, David, and Keti returned here. He grew up in Venezuela, but his accent is barely noticeable because "we always adapted well to where the family went." David now lives on the island with his wife Laura and 10-month-old daughter Valentina.

David says that acquiring the domain was "luck and professional flair." He wanted filoxera.com, but it was taken. But filoxera.es turned out to be available. "Anyone who knows a little about this could see the opportunity and quickly check everything. Especially now that artificial intelligence helps to do everything faster." His task was to create an informative website and find a suitable name. And so, he found the key, bought the domain, and created the portal.

The idea developed very quickly as soon as the news about phylloxera appeared. The website became a place where all the information was collected and made available to everyone. It also helps to fill out applications for the transportation of grapes after the government of the Canary Islands published bans to prevent the spread of the pest.

From this arose another idea that often worries people working on the land: excessive bureaucracy. Therefore, the website is constantly updated to help farmers with paperwork. There you can download PDF files, easily fill out the necessary applications, and put a digital signature.

In the future, David plans to buy a small plot of land to relax there. For example, in El Sauzal, "there are very beautiful landscapes." He says that this will be in retirement.

filoxera.es is a useful tool for winegrowers, winemakers, and agronomists. It helps to quickly fill out documents instead of printing them out and filling them out by hand. This is especially important "when the plots in Tenerife are small, and there can be 10 or 100 winegrowers in the winery." David explains: "I imagined myself in the place of a person who receives grapes. If I have to fill out all these papers, it will be another problem in addition to phylloxera." Therefore, he helps the farmers of Tenerife by providing free access to the filoxera.es website, where you do not need to register.