Safely Keeping Birds at Bay

What does it mean to farm sustainably?

Sustainable farming is a collection of practices spanning from water and energy conservation, to soil health and biodiversity, and social equity.

There are so many examples of sustainability in action to point to right outside of your window:

Native landscaping: minimal irrigation and maintenance needs.
Cover crops: promote soil health and provide refuge for beneficial insects.
Alternative energy sources: reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Owl boxes & raptor perches: birds of prey feast on vertebrate pests.

One topic that sustainable farmers get asked about often is pest management. In this Sustainable Story Marketing Tip, learn how Presqu’ile Vineyards utilizes technology to manage bird pests in a more environmentally and economically sustainable way.

Birds like finches and starlings are common vineyard pests. They damage fruit and canopies, and will even create nests in the vines.

To protect their crops, vineyards typically use bird netting. While effective, netting comes with un-sustainable downsides: they break down in the sun, installation and removal necessitates a lot of labor, and they create waste over time, as nets must be replaced every few years.

Presqu’ile Vineyard knew there was a more sustainable way to handle their unwelcomed feathered visitors. In 2023, they installed five bird lasers.

Spooked by the beams of light, the birds stay away. But if the light beams repeat a consistent pattern, the birds will ignore the lasers and reenter the vineyard.

To maintain the perceived threat, the laser beams are programmed for a variety of motions.

As for the effectiveness of the lasers, Andrew Heilbrun, Vineyard Manager, says that “monitoring bird pressure visually is pretty easy. We saw very little damage this past season after installing the lasers.”

On top of serving their main purpose as an effective method for bird abatement, Andrew notes that their new laser systems offer several other benefits:

Removes tripping hazard for employees.
Doesn’t affect non-target animals.
Reduces waste.
More financially sustainable.

The bird lasers at Presqu’ile Vineyard have proven to be a Safe Pest Management strategy with benefits that touch all 3 P's of sustainability: People, Planet, and Prosperity.