About the Resource:

 

 

Birds can help you or your farm neighbor keep pest insects, rodents and pest birds at bay. When you provide habitat for beneficial birds and bring them closer to your crops, you may be able to reduce your pest-control costs. Beneficial birds can help with production in the same way as beneficial insects.

This resource includes: 

• Colorful Accounts of How Birds Can be Beneficial in Crops and on Pasture
• USDA’s Historic Economic Ornithology Division
• How Best to Manage and Co-exist with Pest Birds
• Why On-Farm Habitat and the Surrounding Landscape Influences Pest Control
• What Farmers Can Do to Make Farms More Bird-Friendly and Resilient
• How Birds’ Diets, Foraging Strategies and Nesting Periods Affect the Farm
• Inspiring Stories from Ten Innovative Farmers 

Today farmers who are masters at IPM—Integrated Pest Management—are using ecological pest-control strategies that include birds. They understand that the overwhelming majority of songbirds are beneficial during nesting season because they feed pest insects to their voracious nestlings. With this publication, we are spreading the knowledge of how all farmers can make the most of birds on their farms.

View the cited references for this publication here. 

Visit WFA's Beneficial Birds Multimedia Story Platform to explore the benefits of birds on the farm and meet farmers that adopt these practices along the Farmland Flyway Trail.