Pollinators are critical to our survival. One of every three bites of food we eat is dependent on pollinators, such as bees, butterflies and other critters, that play an enormous role in plant reproduction.
- Below you can learn more about assistance we can provide landowners to address pollinators.
The Importance of Pollinators:
Pollinators provide approximately $20 billion worth of pollination for American crops each year.
It’s obvious that pollinators are valuable. But did you know that many pollinators are in trouble? Many species are seeing declines in population as a result of habitat loss, disease, parasites and over-use of pesticides.
NRCS has teamed up with farmers and ranchers across the U.S. to use conservation to aid pollinators while improving agricultural operations. This win-win effort – for pollinators, the environment and agriculture– is made possible by producers who create pollinator habitat in their fields, pastures and forests.
In New Hampshire, producers plant conservation cover, field borders and hedgerows. These conservation activities, or practices, are just three of 37 that NRCS offers to help producers create the perfect places for pollinators to forage and take shelter. Learn how you can manage for native pollinators on your land here.
Pollinators by Numbers
Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. More than 3,500 species of native bees help increase crop yields. Some scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats, and beetles and other insects.
How Animal Pollination Works
Pollinators visit flowers in their search for food (nectar and pollen). During a flower visit, a pollinator may accidentally brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, unknowingly depositing pollen from a different flower. The plant then uses the pollen to produce a fruit or seed. Many plants cannot reproduce without pollen carried to them by foraging pollinators.
Pollinators Are in Trouble
You may have heard that bees are disappearing and bats are dying. These and other animal pollinators face many challenges in the modern world. Habitat loss, disease, parasites, and environmental contaminants have all contributed to the decline of many species of pollinators.
You Can Help. Here is ...
How gardeners can help...
Every food source and habitat provided can help pollinators rebound from the challenges they face. You can provide food and habitat in your backyard—or even in your windowsill—to help pollinators thrive.
Here are seven ways to make your garden a haven for native pollinators:
- Use pollinator-friendly plants in your landscape. Shrubs and trees such as dogwood, blueberry, cherry, plum, willow, and poplar provide pollen or nectar, or both, early in spring when food is scarce.
- Choose a mixture of plants for spring, summer, and fall. Different flower colors, shapes, and scents will attract a wide variety of pollinators. If you have limited space, you can plant flowers in containers on a patio, balcony, and even window boxes.
- Reduce or eliminate pesticide use in your landscape, or incorporate plants that attract beneficial insects for pest control. If you use pesticides, use them sparingly and responsibly.
- Accept some plant damage on plants meant to provide habitat for butterfly and moth larvae.
- Provide clean water for pollinators with a shallow dish, bowl, or birdbath with half-submerged stones for perches.
- Leave dead tree trunks, also called “snags,” in your landscape for wood-nesting bees and beetles.
- Support land conservation in your community by helping to create and maintain community gardens and green spaces to ensure that pollinators have appropriate habitat.
How farmers can help...
Native bees are valuable crop pollinators. The over 3,500 species of native bees (often called pollen bees) help increase crop yields and may serve as important insurance when cultivated European honey bees are hard to come by.
Principles of Farming for Crop Pollinators
- Know the habitat on your farm. Using the illustration as a guide, look for areas on and around your land that can support native bees. Most native bees are solitary or live in small colonies. Bumble, digger, and sweat bees make up the bulk of pollen bees in most parts of the country.
- Protect flowering plants and nest sites. Once you know where bees are living and foraging, do what you can to protect these resources from disturbance and pesticides.
- Enhance habitat with flowering plants and additional nest sites. Most bees love sun and prefer to nest in dry places. Nests are created underground, in twigs and debris, and in dead trees or branches. You can add flowers, leave some ground untilled, and provide bee blocks (tunnels drilled into wood) to increase the number of native bees on your farm.
How NRCS helps...
Pollinators are a crucial part of healthy agricultural and natural landscapes. The 2014 Farm Bill retains all of the pollinator conservation provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill and adds targeted support for the creation of honey bee habitat.
The 2008 Farm Bill made pollinators and their habitat a priority for USDA, and authorized special consideration when determining payments for practices that promote pollinator habitat under Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). Wild and managed (both native and introduced) pollinators are to be considered during the review or development of Farm Bill conservation practice standards. Most importantly, the 2008 Farm Bill authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to encourage “the development of habitat for native and managed pollinators; and the use of conservation practices that encourage native and managed pollinators” during administration of any conservation program.