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.”