Story by Todd Fontenot, LSU AgCenter
As rice farmers prepare for planting, huge flocks of blackbirds threaten to eat the rice seed as soon as it’s in the ground, according to Todd Fontenot, LSU AgCenter county agent in Evangeline Parish.
Fontenot said that to control the birds, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the LSU AgCenter will be cooperating with local rice growers in a baiting program to control the blackbird bird population in rice-growing areas.