In Praise of Dung Beetles, the Unsung, Poop-Eating Heroes of the Vineyard
A vineyard dotted with dung beetles may not evoke the Instagrammable charm of sheep or horses, but they are emerging as another essential ally in the non-chemical fight against pests and climate change.
These poop-eating insects can help vineyards withstand drought stress and flooding, increase soil and vine health and improve biodiversity. To many vintners, they are an essential, often overlooked chemical-free tool that can be used to create better wine, while also boosting climate resilience in increasingly challenging conditions.
Drew Herman, director of viticulture at Revana—which owns and operates Newburg, Oregon’s Alexana Winery, Napa’s Revana Vineyards and Mendoza’s Bodega Corazón Del Sol—is one such figure who has embraced the humble insect.
“Because of my background in zoology, animal biology and botany, I went into my role at Revana knowing that dung beetles would be foundational to the program at Alexana Winery,” Herman says. “Dung beetles are foundational to vineyard health because they increase the microbiology of soil, which helps set off a positive ecological snowball.”
There are thousands of species of dung beetles across the world. These members of the order Coleoptera and the superfamily Scarabaeoidea can be found on all continents except Antarctica, and are considered vital to the well-being of soil in a range of agricultural systems worldwide, including viticulture. So hold your nose, because a reconsideration of feces’ number-one fan is overdue.
Beetles Reduce Stress in Drought and Flood Conditions
At Alexana Winery, Herman lured dung beetles to the vineyard with their favorite snack: poop.
“Pesticide-free manure is the best way to attract dung beetles,” Herman says. “That means the animals have to be part of an intense rotational grazing system. When we began the process of converting our farming to organic, I looked at the vineyard and the farming from a holistic point of view.”
That meant bringing in manure-producing sheep. They have 274 sheep a day wandering and weeding their 100-acre Dundee Hills estate during the winter. Those sheep also produce manure of course, which has attracted dung beetles who have settled in permanently.
“Once the dung beetles arrived, I saw a difference in the quality of the soil and vines very quickly,” he explains.
Dung beetles tunnel into the soil to bring muck underground. This activity produces significant improvements in water infiltration, which increases water availability for vines during times of drought, and prevents soil erosion, runoff and nutrient depletion during times of extreme rainfall or flooding, according to an article in Ecological Entomology published in October of 2021.
Herman has seen these benefits firsthand.
“Those tunnels they create help soak up water after too much rain, and allow vineyards to hold onto moisture further into the season,” he says.
An Integral Component of Regeneration
Diane Holding, director and winegrower at the regeneratively farmed Fancrest Estate in North Canterbury, New Zealand, is equally enamored with the benefits dung beetles bring to the vineyard, and ultimately, her line of wines.
When she began farming her estate 22 years ago, she brought in Wiltshire sheep, hornless Highland cattle and guinea fowl, in line with her organic, regenerative farming philosophy. But she realized that the manure wasn’t breaking down.
“They’d sit there all winter, oxidizing and losing nutrients to the air,” she recalls. “It hit me—New Zealand never had big ruminants. There was no system to recycle all that dung.”
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Holding spent her childhood in Africa, and recalled watching the busy work dung beetles would make of animal manure, and the health and vitality they’d bring to the farms they were present in. She connected with a company in New Zealand that was able to import beetles, and released 500 Binodis beetles into the vineyard. The South African natives tunnelled in, and a few years later, she brought in Spiniger beetles.
“Now, cow pats vanish in days,” she says. “It feeds their babies and fuels the soil’s microbial party. The proof is in the bottle. We’re chasing nutrient-dense wines that don’t need fussing and sing of terroir.”
Most of life on earth—59%, according to a 2023 analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America—occurs in soil underground. Beetles help sustain these populations, while simultaneously building up healthier vines and sequestering carbon.
By bringing the dung underground, nutrients are quickly and effectively absorbed by vines, increasing organic matter and the biodiversity of the microbial population underground.
A Climate-Resistant Ally in a Larger Plan
Whether dung beetles improve biodiversity, or a range of organic inputs attract dung beetles is a classic chicken and egg question to some.
“The presence of animals in the vineyard, such as the horses and geese we have at Olianas Winery certainly help create an environment where dung beetles thrive,” says Cristian Ravai, marketing director of Famiglia Casadei in Tuscany. (Olianas is part of Famiglia Casadei’s organically farmed winery holdings). “Their presence helps maintain the ecological balance of the soil, in line with the biodynamic practices we follow.”
Ravai believes that beetles are one thread of the climate change–resistant tapestry Olianas is weaving with biodynamic practices that also include attracting beneficial aerial insects essential for plant pollination and pest control. He believes his vineyards are now better equipped to withstand the increasing frequency of heavy rains and drought stress that climate change brings with the aid of these tiny helpers.
Riccardo Fratton, winemaker at the organically farmed San Polo Montalcino in Tuscany, concurs. Fratton also says that animals aren’t technically needed if vineyards have other conditions that make dung beetles feel at home.
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“We’ve found that they’re also attracted to compost and humus of plant origin,” Fratton says. “We practice regenerative agriculture and that, along with the presence of dung beetles and other beneficial insects encourage biological pest control, which maintains the vineyard’s ecological balance and makes it more resilient to climate extremes like drought and heat stress, and waterlogging and erosion during heavy rainfalls.”
While an insect that relies on poop as its primary food source will inevitably repulse some (okay … many), perhaps we should look to ancient Egypt for inspiration when considering the dung beetle.
Scarab beetles were revered as symbols of renewal, rebirth and transformation. Their affinity for rolling dung into balls, then laying their eggs inside those balls became associated with the sun god’s creative force. So much so that worshippers of the sun god believed that he was reborn every morning at sunrise in the form of a winged scarab beetle.
For many winemakers, these busy poop eaters are also intrinsically linked to renewal, health and teeming life in their vineyard. The next time you raise a glass of wine, thank a beetle.
More Viticulture Coverage
- A guide to Italy’s organic wine boom.
- The rise of massal selection, a technique vintners are using to combat climate change.
- The non-conformist potential of North Carolina’s Tadkin Valley AVA.
- Is a regenerative farming certificate worth it?
- This 150-year-old vine is fighting climate change.
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