2025 Plan and Budget with actions to control birds feeding on grapes, stressed António Ventura - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Agricultura e Alimentação

António Ventura stated that the 2025 Plan and Budget of the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Food includes an action focused on controlling birds that feed on grapes, using other birds to scare them away.

"This involves the biological control of birds in the vineyards using falconry techniques," he said.

Falconry is used to protect vineyards in Mainland Portugal, where there are companies with specialised professionals who provide this service through daily work. They apply a 100% natural technique that consists of using trained birds of prey as protectors of the vineyards, considering that during their controlled flights they drive away other potentially harmful birds from the vineyards.

It is a technique that uses nature, based on scaring away pests and with a low capture rate.

"Establishing an action plan of this kind will require the services of companies in the field, so as to adjust these techniques to the specific characteristics of the vineyard. There are different species of birds of prey, which are used depending on the activity for which they are intended. This is a pilot project aimed at assessing the feasibility of this technique in vineyards," he said.

In addition, the pilot project aims to study the possibility of breeding kites in captivity for later release into the wild.

"This is another way of controlling pests that jeopardise winegrowers' income and the sustainability of vineyards in the Azores. Azorean vineyards still have considerable growth potential, contributing to the generation of regional wealth and encouraging people to settle," said the government official. 

António Ventura visited today the research project into traditional Azorean Vineyards at the Biotechnology Centre of the University of the Azores in Angra do Heroísmo.