The doors of his van are full of them. Casings or cartridges, this year Olivier Delsanto, farmer in Beauville south of Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) and hunter, has used great means to preserve his sunflower fields. “It is at the time of sowing, when the seed has not yet emerged, that the sunflower is most vulnerable. In three days, fifty wood pigeons can ravage a plot of 70 ares”, sums up the farmer who has already tried everything to keep them away: “Kites, puppets, there were only bird scarers left but it would have taken 7 to 300 euros per unit”, he lists.
Keeping birds away rather than killing them
In question ? “Wild pigeons that are becoming sedentary because of global warming,” explains François Gaignault, from the Fédération de Chasse 47. French sunflower. “We have to repay the seeds, rework the fields, we lose yield when we have had a great need for sunflower oil since the start of the conflict in Ukraine”, estimates Christophe Vogrincic, of the technical institute Terres Innovia.
Until the end of July, an authorization from the Lot-et-Garonne prefecture allows farmers to call on the Hunting Federation to intervene in the fields. “Only the hunters of the commune can shoot, the idea is not to kill birds, but to scare them”, specifies the federation. The prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques has just classified the pigeon as harmful. The decree will come into force on July 1.