Two lasers in the fields at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm on the Troth Yeddha Campus are being used to help protect grain seeds such as barley from geese and cranes.
Two lasers in the fields at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm on the Troth Yeddha Campus are being used to help protect grain seeds such as barley from geese and cranes.
Researchers at the farm are trialing winter barley. In the spring, geese will eat the new barley shoots and sandhill cranes will eat the ungerminated seeds. During the spring and later during the harvest season, the lasers help scare birds away from the mature grains being studied for small grains variety trials and small grain breeding programs. The lasers have been used as a bird deterrent on the farm since the summer of 2024.
The lasers appear as green streaks of light in the dark.
Read more at: University of Alaska Fairbanks
