Bats are an impressive group, flying hundreds of miles, identifying prey by sonar, and leading complex social lives. They too As voracious predators of insects are wreaking havoc on crops cotton, cocoa And rice.
Literally wiping out tons of insects every night, bats US farmers save an estimate $3.7 billion Bats as well as annual bug kills pollination Crops such as coconut, agave, guava and banana, disperse seeds and produce fertilizer.
However, more than half of these small mammals are victims of attacks North American bats The population at risk will decrease over the next 15 years. and agriculture, which destroys grazing and roosting residenceone The biggest threat to the bat.
Yet farmers can be important allies to wildlife by using innovative practices to conserve bats. Instead, these mammalian aircrews protect and pollinate their fields.
Pests and Inheritance
“I know a lot of people are freaked out by bats but they are invaluable to sustainable agriculture – absolutely invaluable,” said Stephanie Miller, owner of Mysterious Pine Farm in Virginia, which specializes in organic heirloom crops from the African diaspora.
His farm is busy with bat activity for a variety of reasons.
“We obviously don’t use any chemicals because that’s a major deterrent and it will definitely get rid of your bat population very quickly,” says Miller.
In addition to directly poisoning bats, pesticides And insect-resistant crops reduce the abundance of their prey.
A wooded area over Mysterious Pine Farm In Virginia (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Miller)
Miller maintains oaks on his property to provide roosts for bats and intentionally provides food for his winged guests.
“I grow night-blooming plants that attract bats and give them nectar and feed them,” Miller said. “Also, I grow native plant species and what I would consider medicinal herbs that they want to eat or attract the food they eat – purple coneflowers, yucca and sunflowers.”
Research supports these observations: Lower-intensity exercise For example, agroforestry and organic farming support higher bat activity levels and diversity than more intensive agriculture.
Cross-level factors also come into play.
“You should leave as much natural habitat around your farm as possible,” says Marilyn Tuttle, a bat researcher and founder. Marlin Tuttle’s bat save. “Where pests do the most damage you have huge monocultures, where you have nothing but corn or soybeans or wheat planted for miles. And in this case, bats and other natural predators cannot survive the off-season. After you harvest corn or wheat, there are no insects to eat.”
Instead, Miller benefits from having bats around.
“I’m using nature, including bats, to control my pests,” says Miller. “And bats do a lot of work. They actually pollinate certain crops. They also eat insects that can be a problem and keep that population under control.”
For example, bats kill Corn earwormA major pest of popcorn and one of Miller’s main crops.
“I’m using nature, including bats, to control my pests,” said the Virginia farmer Stephanie Miller. (Photo courtesy of (Stephanie Miller)
Pecan protection
Although Miller gives an example of a bat-friendly farmer, he is not alone. medium Marlin Tuttle’s bat save And Bat Conservation InternationalPecan growers are learning to control pests by setting up bat houses.
An example is John Worth Byrd, owner of a sustainable pecan farm in Central Texas.
“We have three moth-borne pests here, the walnut caterpillar, the pecan nut casebearer and the hickory leafworm,” Bird said. “But bats, their main diet is moths. So, I thought, well that’s great. Some people in Georgia have done this, setting up bat houses in their pecan orchards. So, I started making bat houses.”
Bird’s property has five species of bats. something animal feed In the wide open spaces away from their houses, others dine locally in garden canopies. While all bats eat pecan pests, locavores kill them mostly.
Bird uses a few tricks to help his bat. Besides keeping bat boxes, he does not spray any pesticides on his property. Also, when a tree dies in his garden, he leaves it.
“A lot of these bats live in these old dead pecan trees…” Bird said.
“The best bats were staying in these holes, just not in such numbers [Brazilian] Free tails in my house, but they were doing a lot. They were local feeders rather than feeding on the atmosphere.”
Surprisingly, all these insects are valuable.
“If people could actually see what the bats were doing, they would be lining up to protect them,” Tuttle said. “Here in Texas it is estimated by our Department of Parks and Wildlife that the use of insecticides is saving Texas farmers about $1.4 billion a year.”
Helper agaves
One of Mexico’s most iconic products has also jumped on the bat conservation bandwagon.
through Tequila Interchange Project, tequila and mezcal producers are growing bat-friendly agaves. These prickly plants are usually cloned, but allowing some of them to flower has several advantages. The night-blooming flowers provide nectar for bats, including an endangered species Mexican long-nosed bat. Bats also pollinate flowers by eating them.
Its commercial cultivation Blue agave, used for tequila, has declined Genetic diversity And His susceptibility to disease increases. For example, in the 1990s, a combination of bacteria and fungi spread through it agave fieldAnd about 25 percent of the crop was abandoned.
It has not gone unnoticed by agave farmers.
“They sense that something is going on,” said Irene Zapata Moran, a doctoral student at the University of Wyoming. “They see more diseases in crops. And people who have been in the industry all their lives have told me they remember the plants used to grow.”
A lesser long-nosed bat eats an agave blossom in Arizona. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Bat pollination is seen as a solution, because unlike cloning genetically identical plants, sexual reproduction brings new genes. It can also increase the ability of plants to adapt to climate change.
However, allowing natural pollination of agave involves a direct financial hit for farmers.
Farmers usually cut the agave flower stalks to concentrate the sugar in the center. After harvesting, they use this core to produce tequila.
“They’re complete competitors—you can’t have agaves in bloom and tequila from the same plot,” says Zapata Moran.
One solution could be for tequila producers to charge premium prices for bat-friendly products. Offsetting is just a the part Their sunk costs can be an effective way to encourage farmers who may not be motivated to give up some of their crops in the name of biodiversity.
Vast swaths of it crOpland and pasture blanketing the globe Present a golden opportunity for bat conservation. And, more than that 18 percent species listed as threat Worldwide, the bats need all the help they can get. Although funding is needed for sustainable practices, Cost-sharing programs, such as those from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Can help farmers. Plus, the payoff is worth it – bats are an eco-friendly solution to many agricultural problems.
