Caffeine jolt reduces rice seed loss to blackbirds

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado, think they’ve discovered a simple way to keep blackbirds away from rice fi elds: coffee.

It seems that, unlike humans, birds don’t like caffeine. Working with chemists, the team was able to make a caffeine solution that could be sprayed on fi elds. When applied to rice crops in trials, the caffeine spray reduced the number of seeds lost to pecking by up to 76%.

- From Rice Today magazine, International Rice Research Institute