{"id":8577,"date":"2023-09-15T15:46:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T15:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/15\/how-duck-soldiers-became-this-300-year-old-winemakers-secret-weapon\/"},"modified":"2023-09-15T15:46:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T15:46:55","slug":"how-duck-soldiers-became-this-300-year-old-winemakers-secret-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/15\/how-duck-soldiers-became-this-300-year-old-winemakers-secret-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"How duck \u2018soldiers\u2019 became this 300-year-old winemaker\u2019s secret weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s viniculture industry employs around 270,000 people, producing some of the world\u2019s most sought-after wines. But not all jobs are best left to humans. In some cases, it\u2019s better to get your ducks in a row \u2013 and then put them to work. <\/p>\n

Outside Cape Town on the banks of the Eerste river, Vergenoegd L\u00f6w The Wine Estate has repurposed a centuries-old practice by marshaling a battalion of ducks to keep its vineyard free of pests. <\/p>\n

Inspired by ducks used to remove pests from rice paddies in Asia, the winery calls on the services of some 1,600 ducks as part of its effort to make wine production more sustainable. <\/p>\n

\u201cI call our ducks the soldiers of our vineyards,\u201d says managing director Corius Visser. \u201cThey will eat aphids, they will eat snails, they will eat small worms \u2013 they keep (it) completely pest-free.\u201d <\/p>\n

The species, the Indian runner duck, is flightless, with a peculiarly upright stance and highly developed sense of smell. The duck troops are cajoled on a 14-day circuit through the vineyard, eating and fertilizing the ground as they go. <\/p>\n

The ducks\u2019 \u201cannual leave\u201d takes place during the harvest (they\u2019d eat the grapes). During this time <\/strong>they forage on open farm pasture, swim in a nearby lake and undergo selective breeding, says Visser. <\/p>\n

Duck eggs are consumed <\/strong>in the vineyard restaurant, but never the ducks themselves \u2013 \u201cthat would be like eating a colleague,\u201d Gavin Moyes, the estate\u2019s tasting room manager, said in a 2020 interview. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThe world is moving away from more conventional farming to (being) a bit more organic,\u201d Visser explains. \u201cFor Vergenoegd, it\u2019s a big goal \u2026 to have less influence on the Earth, the soil and the environment.\u201d Other sustainable initiatives include an extensive solar power plant and a 25-hectare wetland conservation area on the farm. <\/p>\n

Vergenoegd L\u00f6w\u2019s ingenious pest control system has been deployed since the 1980s, but the fowl-based feeding frenzy could soon be spreading its wings. <\/p>\n

As a pioneering winemaker with industry clout \u2013 vines have being grown on the estate since the late 17th century \u2013 Vergenoegd L\u00f6w is hoping to convince others to adopt its approach. <\/strong>Visser says the vineyard plans to sell 750 ducks to other vineyards and replenish numbers by breeding the birds. \u201cWe can be in a position where we say that we have (not just) the best runner ducks in South Africa, but also the world,\u201d Visser argues. <\/p>\n

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\u201cI think the industry itself has the potential to engage more in experimental ways,\u201d he adds. That requires money, and increasing the price point of South African wines in the world market could help fund Vergenoegd L\u00f6w and other vineyards\u2019 green initiatives. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can achieve that, we can then put back some of that (income) into our people, into our land, and become more sustainable,\u201d Visser says. <\/p>\n

They\u2019d be quackers not to. <\/p>\n

To see other animals with jobs, scroll through the gallery above.<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s viniculture industry employs around 270,000 people, producing some of the world\u2019s most sought-after wines. But not all jobs are best left to humans. In some cases, it\u2019s better to get your ducks in a row \u2013 and then put them to work. Outside Cape Town on the banks of the Eerste river, Vergenoegd <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}