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Disparity between pollinators and areas of need

An entomologist says land use research is finding a disparity between native pollinator populations and where they are needed.

Rufus Isaacs with Michigan State University is the project director of the Integrated Crop Pollination Project.  “There’s some areas of the country where land use changes really reduce the suitability for wild bees and also that is in many areas where production of blueberries or pumpkins or other crops that need these wild bees has increased, so you’ve got a situation where there’s fewer wild bees available and more need for pollination.”  Researchers found that wild bee populations declined in 23 percent of the U.S. between 2008 and 2013, including 39 percent of the agricultural regions that rely most on pollinators.

Isaacs says partners have spent the last five years researching how to improve crop pollination with honey and native bees.  “Also think about where other managed bees and wild bees fit in to the crop pollination picture and hopefully make that more sustainable for growers so that they can reliably get pollination each growing season.”

From the end of January through March the project will be hosting a coordinated webinar series for the first time which will discuss how to support pollinators in specialty crop production.

Almost $4 billion of the national agricultural economy is reliant on pollination.

The multi-state research efforts are supported by 15 universities and organizations across the country including Michigan.

AUDIO: Interview with Rufus Isaacs

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