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Bayer pleased with national pollinator strategy

A leading crop protection company working on pollinator health supports the president’s strategy to protect bees and other pollinators. Becky Langer, head of the North American Bee Care Program at Bayer CropScience, tells Brownfield they’re excited to see the national pollinator strategy to reduce honeybee colony losses.

“We are very excited to see the national pollinator strategy come out,” Langer tells Brownfield Ag News, “We, like everyone else, had been waiting for this for quite some time. And, we think it’s very balanced. It’s a multi-faceted approach to improving pollinator health. And, part of the excitement is that it does tie in so well to what Bayer has been doing for almost over 30 years.”

She says a wide range of factors affect bee health – including disease and lack of forage and habitat. She says the proper use of neonic pesticides by growers is imperative, “At Bayer CropScience, we’re doing research to address those issues. Then, if everyone can take part in the forage and habitat that makes really the biggest impact on pollinator health. But, it is always important to read and follow all of the label directions for any of the pesticides that might be used.”

Bayer’s CARE program focuses on communication between growers and bee keepers and grower awareness when spraying pesticides.

Langer says Bayer is also developing a novel delivery mechanism to help control the Varroa mite, a major bee pest affecting colony losses, “This will be a plastic strip that does across the front of the hive entrance that the bees go in and out of. And, the plastic that the gate is made out of will provide a slow-release mechanism for the miticide, dosing the mites right when the bee is crawling in and out of the hive. So, the Varroa Gate is in field studies this summer and we’re very excited about that product’s possibility.”

The national pollinator strategy involves increasing the monarch butterfly population and restoring 7-million acres of bee habitat in the next five years.

AUDIO:  Interview with Becky Langer (13:30 mp3):