Overview

• Since late spring, flocks of flamingos have invaded Ferrara’s seasonally flooded paddies, stirring soil to feed and trampling newly planted rice seedlings.
• Growers deploy continuous patrols with honking trucks, barrel-banging and small gas cannons to displace the birds, but the flamingos simply relocate to adjacent fields.
• Farmers such as Enrico Fabbri report yield reductions as high as 90%, threatening the region’s prized short-grain risotto rice harvest.
• Ornithologists and agronomists recommend long-term deterrents including hedgerows, tree lines and lowering water depths to 5–10 cm to discourage flamingos without harming crops.
• Local farmers’ confederation leaders back these humane landscape modifications to balance conservation goals with the economic demands of rice cultivation.