Risotto crisis as European rice farmers panic over 'beautiful' problem

Farmers say the problem has never happened before (Image: Getty)

European farmers are facing a major threat to their rice crops from an unlikely source – flocks of migrating flamingos. The long-legged birds have appeared in hordes in the Ferrara province of northeastern Italy, between Venice and Ravenna, and stirring up soil with their webbed feet to hunt for mollusks, algae or insects. Local grower Enrico Fabbri said he had seen losses to risotto rice production of 90% in some areas, with farmers honking car horns and launching day and night patrols in a bid to scare the wading creatures away.

"These are new things that have never happened before," Mr Fabbri, 63, told AP News. "You invest so much time and care into preparing everything. Then, just as the crop begins to grow, it's like having a new born child taken away. That's what it feels like."

The wading birds have disrupted risotto rice crops in Italy (Image: Getty)

The flamingos have reportedly migrated to the northwestern Italy rice paddies from nesting grounds in the Comacchio Valleys, where they have been based since around 2000.

They were driven to the region, near where Italy's Po River flows into the Adriatic Sea, by a drought in southern Spain at the turn of the millenium, according to orinthologist Roberto Tinarelli.

Massimo Piva, 57, admitted that the animals were "beautiful" but said their presence in rice growing sites – part of a trend of flamingos moving inland – was becoming a major "problem".

"From an environmental point of view, all this is beautiful, but we must keep in mind that rice cultivation is among the most expensive, extensive crops," the rice grower and vice-president of the local farmers' confederation said.

"It's their way of moving and behaving, but the problem is trying to limit their presence as much as possible."

The flamingos will continue to pose a threat to risotto rice production until the paddies are drained in a few weeks' time - but Mr Tinarelli said farmers should take more humane action than patrolling the sites and scaring them off with loud noises.

He recommended that farmers reduce water levels to between 5 and 10 centimetres, instead of existing 12 centimetre depths – a quantity that is "sufficient for rice to grow, but decidedly less attractive to flamingos, which must splash around in the water".