Indiana farmers grow food and fiber for the entire world, but they can’t do the work themselves.

After the seeds are planted and nutrients are applied, it is time for pollinators in all shapes and sizes to play their role in ensuring the plants grow and produce high yields. Corn self-pollinates, but other crops such as soybeans, vegetables, orchard fruit and melons either can be helped by pollinators or are completely dependent upon them.

Bees get most of the headlines, and while they are one of the most important pollinators, they are far from the only ones. Birds, bats, wasps, moths, and butterflies each have a role to play, and they require habitat to survive and thrive. Many of them also play a dual purpose on your farm or in your garden by feeding on pests. This year during National Pollinator Week, which starts today, we celebrate the Wings of Life and the important role they play in helping to produce the world’s food and fiber.

According to the Pollinator Partnership, pollinators help to add $217 billion to the global economy by enabling the food and fiber we depend on to grow. They also play an important role in promoting clean air, healthy soils and building healthy ecosystems.

They need our help though. Loss of habitat, environmental contaminants, disease and parasites have all negatively impacted the populations of pollinators of all types. 

It is not too late to turn the tide and help restore the populations of monarch butterflies, honeybees and other threatened pollinators. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) here in Indiana and throughout the country is committed to working with you to make sure pollinators have the habitat they need to survive, and you have the resources needed to support their survival.

NRCS has financial assistance available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to help you plant pollinator plantings, filter strips and other beneficial areas that provide habitat for pollinators. Many of these habitat areas can be planted in ways that provide benefit without taking land out of production, such as hedgerows between fields, stream buffers planted with native plants and cover crops planted in typically fallow seasons.

NRCS experts can also provide free technical assistance to help you make decisions and address resource concerns on your land such as pest management plans that support your crop without causing negative impacts to pollinators, water quality or soil health.

This week, as we celebrate National Pollinator Week, it is a perfect time to take the first step toward protecting all the pollinators who help your crops and gardens to grow. Contact information for your local NRCS district conservationist can be found at Farmers.gov/service-locator and he or she can help you get started. To learn more about pollinators, what can be done to protect them and the important role they play visit Pollinator.org/pollinators.