Bee Buffer Project

Bee Buffer Project

Bee Buffer Project. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Pollinators like honeybees play a critical role in the ag industry. Mary K. Byrne, Plant Ecologist with the Pollinator Partnership describes what the Bee Buffer Project is.

BYRNE: The Bee Buffer Project is a new project that the Pollinator Partnership has started with Burt’s Bees and we’re looking to influence 6,000 acres between North Carolina and California over the next couple years and the main way we’re going to do that is by planting these bee buffers for honeybee forage areas.

So what exactly is a bee buffer?

BYRNE: A bee buffer as we’re calling it is an area set aside that has been seeded with a specially designed, honeybee friendly seed mix. We’re asking applicants to keep them in place for 3-5 years and allow bees to come to this area and collect the pollen and nectar that they need to make honey and support their hive.

While also pollinating adjacent crops.

BYRNE: The hope is that we’ll support honeybees and that honeybees in turn will support us. One out of every three bites of our food is pollinator dependent. A lot of our main crops in the U.S. are honeybee dependent so the more that we could do to support their health, the better our crop systems will support us and our health, too.

For details on the Bee Buffer Project go to beebuffer.com. More on this interesting topic coming up.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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