A ten-year cooperative effort has finally yielded a clever solution to solve the conflict between corn farmers and the endangered sandhill cranes that eat their newly planted seed. The EPA has approved a non-lethal bird repellant for the 2006 planting season. Avitec is a substance naturally occurring in plants that nature uses to repel birds. Corn kernels are treated with Avitec, which the cranes detect in very small doses and avoid. . .
A group championing the waterfowl explain, "The birds continue to forage on waste grains and other foods in those same fields. This benefits the farmer because waste corn and many types of beetle larvae can later cause problems as the crop matures." This is another example of a win-win situation created by innovation and a cooperation between Agriculture industries and Environmentalists.