American Vineyard Protects Grapes with Laser Bird Control Device

Location:	New York, United States
Application context:	Vineyard
Problem definition:	Bird damage to grapes
Bird species:	Sparrows (Passerida) and Finches (Fringillidae)
Bird Behavior	Foraging and pecking
Time of the year with bird problems:	August – September
Time of the day with bird problems:	From dusk till dawn
Number of systems:	1 x Autonomic
In use since:	2018
Laser projection area:	8 acres (3,24 ha)
Number of birds before Autonomic’s use:	100 – 1000
Bird reduction after the Autonomic’s use:	100%

American Vineyard reduces bird presence by 100% with laser bird control device

Grapes are the highest value fruit crop in the US, estimated at the total value of $5 billion. More than 35,000,000 gallons of wine are produced per year. James Besha, the owner of Clover Pond Vineyard, purchased the Autonomic in 2018. James said that the birds would damage the grapes when they were ripening, right before harvest.

Crop loss problem solved

Without the Autonomic being installed, Clover Pond Vineyard could have potentially lost 25% of their crop volume, which is estimated at 100,000 USD. Before the Autonomic was installed, there were thousands of birds at the vineyard.

Clover Pond Vineyard first installed the laser bird control device up in August 2018 and used it from dawn till dusk. James noticed an immediate difference in the number of birds. James: “We would turn the Autonomic on at dawn, and birds would disperse immediately.”

Benefits of the laser bird control device

James discovered the laser from the Orchard Magazine and thought that it was too good to be true. The other bird control method that James was considering was netting. James explained, “We were debating between netting and the laser bird repellent. After some consideration, we did not choose netting because of the increase in manual labor.” After the laser was put into use, James figured out quickly that the use of lasers was the right choice, as it minimized labor costs.

100% effective bird reduction

One Autonomic device was purchased to cover 8 acres(3.24 hectares) of the vineyard. After installing the device and putting it into use, there were no signs of birds in the vineyard. Clover Pond Vineyard had a successful harvest and prevented bird damage to their grapes.

“It was a dramatic moment, there were immediate results, and we were delighted with the decision we made”

– James Besha