Lasers at Fairbanks Experiment Farm used to spook birds
Julie Stricker
907-474-5406
Sept. 30, 2025
In May 2024, a laser atop a tower at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm scans the fields using a pre-programmed pattern designed to scare hungry birds away from freshly planted grain.
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.
Wayne Ackermann, an employee of the Netherlands-based company that makes the lasers, said the birds likely perceive the light as a physical danger and deem the fields uninhabitable.
Farm manager Kieran Gleason said he plans to turn the lasers off for the winter this week.
For more information, visit the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station blog to read this 2024 story on the lasers.