Fodder crop bird found by chance, almost (7)
I believe the answer is:
lucerne
'fodder crop' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both plants as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'bird found by chance almost' is the wordplay.
'bird' becomes 'erne' (erne is a type of bird).
'found by' says to put letters next to each other.
'chance almost' becomes 'luc' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'erne' after 'luc' is 'LUCERNE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lucerne that I've seen before include "in Switzerland" , "ake" , "Swiss city/lake" , "edible plant" , "Alfalfa - Swiss lake and resort" .)