Einsatz der Enten-Armee auf dem Weingut

Den Pestiziden den Kampf ansagen. Keine Chemie, dafür eine ganze Enten-Armee. Alles für einen tollen Tropfen. Das südafrikanische Weingut Vergenoegd zeigt, wie es geht. Die über 1000 Laufenten, sollen die Weinreben vor Schnecken und Insekten schützen. Irgendwie skurril – irgendwie genial.

„The flock, which started with six ducks in 1983, gives Vergenoegd extra points in the wine industry’s sustainability certification process as the 57-hectare vineyard now uses so little chemicals it does not need to declare them, Jacobs said.

Parading on the farm each day, the soldier-like birds are guided by a herder and can clear between half a hectare and a whole hectare a day, of the snails that are, besides fungal diseases, considered as the main threat to vines at the farm.

However, the high costs of keeping the birds are a downside. On a similar sized farm, growers could spend about 50,000 rand ($3,200) a season for pesticides, compared with 30,000 for just a month on ducks, which are kept in protective pens and are fed grain to augment their snail diet, said Jacobs.“
(Reuters)

A vineyard employs 900 ducks