Farmers and Migrating Birds Form a Win-Win Partnership

Rice farmers in the United States are turning their fields into seasonal wetlands, helping millions of migratory birds thrive while naturally fertilising their soil and improving harvests.

“It’s a give-and-take system,” said Scott Manley, head of the Rice Stewardship Programme at Ducks Unlimited. “Nature gives us food, but we have to give back for it to work for generations.”

Across the Mississippi Delta and other rice-growing regions, farmers are leaving shallow water on their fields over winter, creating habitat for ducks, geese and shorebirds. Their trampling aerates soil, their droppings supply up to one-third of the nitrogen rice needs, and waterlogged fields keep sediment and nutrients from washing into rivers. With three million acres of U.S. rice land now supporting migrating birds and reducing synthetic fertiliser use by more than 13%, the seasonal partnership is becoming a model for climate-smart farming that protects wildlife and strengthens food production.