Bird damage to crops: what solutions?
Bird damage to crops: what solutions?
The conference entitled "Bird damage to crops: what solutions?", which was held on 24 November 2022, was an opportunity for the European speakers to disseminate the results of their experiments in the field of corvid and pigeon control. If concrete and effective solutions are still lacking, the path of mutualised declaration seems to be promising.
On Thursday 24 November 2022, Laurent Rosso opened the discussions at this conference by outlining the issues at stake for a sector that has been penalised to the tune of several tens of millions of euros (particularly sunflower and maize crops). He raised certain questions that have been growing steadily over the past ten years: the impact of pigeon and corvid populations? Possible solutions today? Processes at the origin of the damage? What are the prospects for helping farmers and the entire value chain to ensure supplies?
Thus, bird damage to crops is a growing concern for farmers and a source of local tension. However, the subject is little recognised. Work remains scattered and local, and opportunities for exchange are rare.
The aim of this conference was to assemble and compare knowledge, from biological processes to the development and testing of agronomic and digital innovations..
All stakeholders interested in finding sustainable solutions were present: public authorities, professionals and research in relation to the agriculture, hunting and environmental protection sectors. The exchanges aimed to draw up a roadmap for R&D taking into account the contributions of ethology and ecology.
Laurent Bourdil, President of Anamso, concluded as follows: "Bird damage is a sensitive issue. We have seen this with the questions. But one thing is clear: there are no effective solutions, however, declarations are essential to find solutions (networking and mutualisation)."
Contact : Christophe Sausse, c.sausse@terresinovia.fr