Farming activities shift with the seasons and harvesting healthy, productive crops at a low cost drives decision-making throughout the year. Farmers must annually choose what to plant, when and how to harvest, and the best way to nourish and maintain their fields.
Farmers are discovering that migrating birds can be planting partners rather than pests. For example, a Mississippi Delta rice farmer leaves water on his winter fields and attracts droves of overwintering geese, ducks, and shorebirds. Their trampling feet mix and their droppings enrich the soil, leaving the fields ready for spring planting. Fallow, flooded fields provide such excellent wetland habitat for migrating birds that The Nature Conservancy launched BirdReturns, a program that pays California farmers to turn their fields into temporary habitat for migrating birds.
Work like the Big Farmland Bird Count (UK) is quantifying the effect that farm-based conservation efforts have on bird populations. Other research continues to document the habitat features with the biggest impact, including a 2025 meta-analysis on semi-natural habitats which provide nesting cover and insect food, such as hedgerows, wildflower strips, and field margins. Most of the work they reviewed found these habitats boosted pollinator diversity, flower visits, or predation of crop pests.