Bees: Helping Farmers with their Crops — NRCS: Helping Farmers with their Bees

Pollinators are an important part of on-farm biodiversity. They help maintain diverse plant communities that provide food for wildlife and provide pollination for approximately 70 percent of crops worldwide.  Farmers in the U.S. rely upon insect pollinators to produce a wide variety of fruits and vegetables including apples, almonds, berries, cherries, cucumbers, melons, squash, and sunflowers.  In the U.S., this represents 15 to 30 percent of the foods we consume, including the indirect products — such as milk from cows fed on alfalfa.

Although experiencing a decline in numbers, honey bees are the most important pollinators for working farms.  But native bees may be able to take up some of the deficit as they already exist on most farms and also contribute to current crop yields thereby providing an insurance policy for farmers pollination needs. 

To help farmers recognize habitat needs and conservation opportunities to help pollinators, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, in cooperation with the NRCS West National Technology Support Center, has produced an informative educational brochure, Farming for Pollinators.  Copies of the brochure will soon be distributed to NRCS offices across the country for use by producers.

For more information on pollinators, NRCS has produced a Native Pollinators Habitat Management Leaflet.

In addition, detailed information for how to provide habitat for native bees and other important pollinators is available from the Xerces Society or contact Mace Vaughan at 503-232- 6639.
Your contacts are Wendell Gilgert, NRCS wildlife biologist, at 503-273-2426 or Mace Vaughan, Xerces Society, at 503-232- 6639.