Join USDA in Celebrating National Pollinator Week June 17-23
The next time you snack on almonds or blueberries or cook squash or zucchini, thank a pollinator; and thank farmers, ranchers, private forestland owners, and urban growers who work hard to create and maintain pollinator habitat.
Pollinators including honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats, flies, and many others, play a vital role in crop production. Without pollinators, we wouldn’t have many of our crops.
During the week of June 17-23, USDA joins groups across the nation to celebrate these iconic and crucial pollinators during National Pollinator Week. The U.S. Senate designated the third week in June as National Pollinator Week to increase awareness about the importance of pollinators and the challenges many pollinators face, including serious population declines and habitat loss, often due to land use changes and excessive or improper pesticide use. Nearly 200 species of pollinators are considered threatened or extinct.
Pollination occurs when pollen grains are moved between two flowers of the same species, or within a single flower by wind or insects and animals. Successful pollination results in healthy fruit and fertile seeds, allowing the plants to reproduce.
The extensive and critical world of crop pollinators is a $20 billion a year industry. About 75% of crop plants are pollinated by billions of animals and insects every year.
Many federal, state, and local government agencies, non-government organizations, and universities have launched extensive efforts to protect pollinators, especially honeybees and the monarch butterfly. USDA works closely with farmers, forest landowners, urban growers and other private landowners to increase pollinator habitat in targeted areas nationwide. Check out our Bee in the Know About USDA Programs for Honey Producers factsheet for details.
Rhode Island is home to approximately 250 different bee species. Native bees out-pollinate the more familiar European honeybee. About seventy percent of native bees nest underground.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) offers financial incentives to farmers, urban growers and private forest landowners who enhance native pollinator habitat by voluntarily applying conservation practices such as cover crops, wildflower and native plantings in buffers and areas not in production, and pollinator gardens.
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) can also be used to enhance habitat to protect pollinators. Administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency, CRP is a land conservation program where enrolled landowners remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species to improve environmental health and quality.
When we protect pollinators, we protect our ability to grow food. Whether you are a large farmer; a small, diverse conventional or organic farmer; a forest landowner; or even a suburban homeowner, you can have an important role in saving Rhode Island’s pollinators.
NRCS is a federal agency that works hand-in-hand with conservation districts and the people of Rhode Island to improve and protect soil, water, air, plants, animals and other natural resources. For more info, contact your local Rhode Island NRCS Field Office or Conservation District Office, or visit www.RI.nrcs.usda.gov.
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