Flamingos destroying Italian risotto rice crops

Telegraph

12-07-2025

Risotto rice crops in Italy are under threat from flocks of hungry flamingos stirring up paddy fields with their webbed feet.
Farmers have been forced to patrol around the clock to try to scare away the birds, who destroy rice seedlings when they stir up the soil in the flooded fields before snatching up molluscs, algae and insects.
Enrivo Fabbri, who farms in Ferrara province, between Venice and Ravenna, estimates he has lost as much as 90 per cent of production in some fields because of the birds.
'It's like losing a newborn'
'These are new things that have never happened before. You invest so much time and care into preparing everything,' Mr Fabbri, 63, said at one of his paddies on the outskirts of Jolanda di Savoia.
'Then, just as the crop begins to grow, it's like having a newborn child taken away. That's what it feels like.'
Farmers have been banging barrels and honking truck horns in an effort to scare off the flamingos. Some even deploy small gas cannons that make booming noises.
However, the flamingos simply fly off before settling in another nearby paddy field to feed.
Rice farmers flood their fields for a few weeks from late spring to early summer to germinate newly planted seeds. Until the paddies are drained, the flamingos are a threat to the crops.
The flamingos appear to have come from former nesting grounds in the nearby Comacchio valleys, a wetlands reserve where the River Po flows into the Adriatic Sea.
Roberto Tinarelli, the president of AsOER, the Emilia-Romagna ornithologists' association, said the birds had been coming there since 2000, after drought in southern Spain sent them searching for nesting grounds further east.
'They are beautiful, but we must limit them'
Previously, the flamingos had been based in lakes in north Africa, parts of Spain and some of the Camargue region in France, Mr Tinarelli said. There has been no research yet into why the flamingos started seeking food farther inland.
'Obviously, we are looking for answers from those who have to deal with the problem. From an environmental point of view, all this is beautiful, but we must keep in mind that rice cultivation is among the most expensive crops,' Massimo Piva, a 57-year-old rice grower and vice-president of the local farmers' confederation, said.
'They are beautiful animals, it's their way of moving and behaving, but the problem is trying to limit their presence as much as possible.'
Mr Tinarelli has suggested several solutions to the problem, including surrounding paddies with tall trees or hedges.
He added that reducing water levels on freshly planted paddies to between two to four inches rather than 12 inches would help.
'This is sufficient for the rice to grow, but decidedly less attractive to flamingos, which must splash around in the water,' he said.