In the Langhe the problem does not just concern climate, markets or crops. For years, hazelnut producers have also been fighting against a small mammal that has now become a nightmare for many farms: the dormouse. Greedy for hazelnuts that are still green and soft, this animal has found an ideal habitat in the Piedmontese hazelnut groves, thanks to the expansion of cultivations and the increase in wooded areas due to the abandonment of many agricultural lands.
For this reason, the Province of Cuneo has approved the new dormouse control plan 2026-2030, a tool intended to limit damage to coriliculture while trying to maintain a balance with the protection of wild fauna. The phenomenon mainly affects the areas of Alta Langa and Langhe included in the CN4 and CN5 Territorial Hunting Areas, territories where hazelnut cultivation represents a strategic economic resource.
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Damaged hazelnuts and companies in difficulty
The damage caused by dormice is not marginal. The animal begins to attack hazelnut groves as early as the first days of July, mainly targeting plants close to the woods. The gnawed hazelnuts become unusable and the economic losses can be substantial, in a sector already exposed to market fluctuations.
Over the years, the problem has assumed such dimensions that it has pushed local authorities and farmers to look for different solutions. Hypotheses such as environmentally friendly repellents, traps, trapping systems and even sterilizing baits have been evaluated. The Province had also commissioned the Sampeyre Wildlife Research and Management Center to monitor the spread of the dormouse and the impact on crops. The reports do not only concern hazelnut groves. In some areas the dormice would also have caused damage to parked agricultural vehicles, gnawing at electrical cables and infiltrating the attics of rural homes.
How the plan will work until 2030
The new plan is based on the provisions of Law 157 of 1992, which allows control interventions even on protected species when agricultural damage becomes significant and after verification of the ineffectiveness of ecological methods, with the green light from ISPRA. However, the priority will remain prevention. The measures envisaged include the creation of buffer zones between woods and hazelnut groves and the installation of overhead barriers to limit animal access to crops.
Only if these systems are not enough will more direct, but still selective and localized, interventions be triggered. Numerical containment can be carried out exclusively between 15 May and 15 September, using cages and nest boxes and under the coordination of the Province.
According to the president of the Province of Cuneo Luca Robaldo, the plan aims to protect a fundamental agricultural sector without sacrificing the protection of biodiversity. A delicate balance, especially in an area where hazelnut groves, woods and wildlife now coexist at increasingly closer distances.
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