Wisconsin Ag Connection - New Product Helps Protect Corn Crop from Sandhill Cranes

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New Product Helps Protect Corn Crop from Sandhill Cranes
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 07/02/2012

A product that's designed to protect newly-seeded corn fields from Sandhill Cranes is taking off. Avipel, which was developed by the International Crane Foundation and Arkion LLC, is a non-lethal substance that's applied to corn seeds before they are planted. Cranes avoid feeding on the treated seed, but remain in the field to feed on other food items.

Suppliers of Avipel say it's an effective solution for damage that Sandhill Cranes cause to planted corn seeds. They also note that it's been used in record amounts during the just-completed 2012 planting season. From 2006 to 2011, the total area of corn that farmers treated has more than doubled with 76,309 acres treated in Wisconsin last year alone. That number could be 25-percent higher this year.

"The use of Avipel to prevent crop damage by cranes works for both cranes and farmers because it allows cranes to access agricultural habitats they depend upon while solving problems that cranes may cause for the landowner," said International Crane Foundation Field Ecology Director Jeb Barzen. "Additionally, solving problems that farmers face provides the opportunity to engage them with other projects that are critical for advancing wildlife conservation on private lands, which compose over 2/3 of North America's land base."

Barzen says the cost of using Avipel is inexpensive enough to allow growers to use the product, thereby providing protection to their crop while remaining profitable. Few other wildlife damage control techniques have succeeded at such a large geographic scale and worked within the marketplace, assuring that conservation and agriculture interests mutually and sustainably benefit.

Earlier this year, Wisconsin legislators introduced a bill that would authorize the hunting of Sandhill Cranes in Wisconsin. The measure, which did not clear the Assembly, was proposed as a necessary way to reduce crop depredation caused by Sandhill Cranes, and to enable farmers to apply for wildlife damage abatement assistance and claim payments.

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