[Pollinator] Fwd: Wild pollinators worth up to $2.4 billion to farmers, study finds
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Mon Jun 20 19:50:37 PDT 2011
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From: ckremen at gmail.com
Reply-to: ckremen at berkeley.edu
To: lda at coevolution.org
Sent: 6/20/2011 5:57:38 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Fwd: Wild pollinators worth up to $2.4 billion to farmers, study
finds
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From: UC Berkeley Media Relations <_ucbnews at berkeley.edu_
(mailto:ucbnews at berkeley.edu) >
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 10:10 AM
Subject: Wild pollinators worth up to $2.4 billion to farmers, study finds
To: _ucbnews at berkeley.edu_ (mailto:ucbnews at berkeley.edu)
News from the University of California, Berkeley – 6/20/11
File # 18542
Media Contact: Ann Brody Guy, College of Natural Resources, _(510)
643-1041_ (tel:(510)%20643-1041) , _(510) 301-2646_ (tel:(510)%20301-2646)
(cell), _annguy at berkeley.edu_ (mailto:annguy at berkeley.edu)
Source: See contacts below
Wild pollinators worth up to $2.4 billion to farmers, study finds
_CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE STORY_
(http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/06/20/wild-pollinators-worth-billions-to-farmers/)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Berkeley – California agriculture reaps $937 million to $2.4 billion per
year in economic value from wild, free-living bee species that serve the
critical function of pollinating crops, according to a new study by scientists
at the University of California, Berkeley, published this week in the
June issue of the journal _Rangelands_ (http://www.srmjournals.org/) .
About one-third of the value of California agriculture comes from
pollinator-dependent crops, representing a net value of $11.7 billion per year,
according to the study. Currently, many farmers rent European honeybees to
ensure crop pollination, and it has been widely assumed that wild pollinators
were not a significant source of crop pollination. However, the new study
found that wild pollinators residing in California’s natural habitats,
chiefly rangelands, provide 35-39 percent, or more than one-third, of all
pollination “services” to the state’s crops.
“This means that preserving rangelands has significant economic value, not
only to the ranchers who graze their cattle there, but also to farmers who
need the pollinators,” said Claire Kremen, UC Berkeley associate professor
of environmental science, policy and management, and senior author of the
study.
The study is the first to calculate the percentage of crop pollinators
that are wild, free-living species based on their proximity to natural
habitats, and thus to identify the economic value of the pollination service due
to wild pollinators.
Researchers said both rented European honeybees and wild pollinator bee
species are currently experiencing supply problems. More than 1 million
honeybee colonies are imported to California each year, chiefly for almond
pollination. Recently, beekeepers have suffered high rates of colony losses due
to diseases, pesticides and management factors, increasing the uncertainty
of both supply and rental prices.
Wild pollinator species also show declines in abundance and diversity on
farmlands, most likely due to habitat loss from the intensive monoculture,
or single crop, production system that typifies much of California’s
agricultural lands.
“Currently, wild pollinators are least abundant in intensive monoculture
production areas such as sunflowers, almonds and melons, where demand for
pollination services is largest,” said Kremen, who was named a 2007 MacArthur
Fellow for her work in ecology, biodiversity and agriculture.
Wild pollinators key to sustainability
Kremen said the findings suggest that if farmers paid ranchers to stay on
the land and maintain the habitat, the farmers would be increasing their
sources of pollination and developing critical diversification to support
their agricultural practices.
“We would never invest all of our retirement savings in just one stock,
but this is essentially what farmers do when they rely solely on the European
honeybee for pollination,” said Kremen. She said this is exactly what is
occurring in California agriculture right now.
“Diversifying their monetary investment in pollinators to include wild,
rangeland-dwelling species is the same idea as diversifying a stock portfolio,
” she said, adding that the unpredictability associated with climate
change amplifies the importance of diversification.
“Some insect species will thrive in changed climate conditions, and other
won’t. Maintaining a biodiverse stock of pollinators is like the insurance
that a diversified stock portfolio brings: some will be up, some will be
down, but having a portfolio of many different species ensures viability into
the future,” Kremen said.
Placing a value on ecosystem services is an established part of
conservation science and helps scientists understand the contributions of various
elements of an ecosystem and how they influence each other.
The UC Berkeley researchers estimated the current contribution of wild
pollinators to California agriculture by integrating their knowledge of the
relationship between natural habitat and wild pollination services with the
added dimension of location-specific data.
“Essentially, we identified where wild pollinators were living in relation
to crops. When we put it all on a map, we got a highly informative picture
of how the pollinators could be impacting crop production,” Kremen said.
She said they used data from the National Agriculture Statistics Service on
crop production and value to help calculate the monetary value.
Changing perspective on role of rangeland
Lynn Huntsinger, a professor of rangeland management at UC Berkeley who is
not affiliated with the study, said that the findings are significant
because the study is the first to discover that conserving rangelands enhances
crop production.
“This evidence of economic symbiosis makes it clear that rangeland
conservation cannot be separated from the needs of agriculture, whether it is
farming or ranching,” Huntsinger said.
She said that precisely because rangelands have been used for ranching –
livestock grazing – ranchers have kept the land conserved and stewarded it
in ways that result in habitat that sustains wild bee species as well as
other wildlife.
“Studies in some ecosystems have shown that well-managed grazing can keep
invasive grasses from shading out the flowering herbs that native
pollinators rely on,” Huntsinger said.
The state’s rangelands have been decreasing steadily, as the foothills and
oak-dotted grasslands can be highly desirable for residential development,
Huntsinger said. California lost 105,000 acres of grazing lands to
urbanization between 1990 and 2004, according to the state Department of
Conservation. The California Oak Foundation projects that the state could lose
another 750,000 acres by 2040.
She said the vast majority of rangelands are privately owned, and income
from ranching is usually small compared to the price the land can command in
the real estate market, so when cash is needed for college, retirement or
other major expenses, ranchers face strong pressure to sell.
“This new finding about pollinators is important because not only does it
tell us something we need to know to maintain our ability to grow food, it
also provides a statewide value for the service of providing pollinator
habitat. Ranchers need to get that value and other rangeland values recognized
in order to sustain their ranches,” Huntsinger said.
The finding comes at a time when there is growing interest within the
ranching community in providing ecosystem services, Huntsinger said. For
example, as part of conservation efforts, California ranchers have been asked to
maintain flowers for endangered butterflies and to keep small spring
wetlands known as vernal pools healthy – using grazing as a tool to manipulate
the grassland.
Darrel Sweet, a fifth generation cattle rancher from Livermore and a
former president of the California Cattlemen's Association, said that placing a
dollar value on rangelands pollination services lends powerful support to
these efforts.
“The value of grazing and other land stewardship practices of California’
s ranchers is being increasingly acknowledged as not only a preferred land
use, but also as an essential resource management tool,” said Sweet. “I
hope this study is just the beginning of comparable findings that show how
ranching is a critical – and multifaceted – element of California
agriculture.”
Calling to mind the classic “Oklahoma!” song “The Farmer and Cowman
Should Be Friends,” the study’s findings suggest a host of ways farmers might
work with ranchers to their mutual benefit, Kremen said.
While the study issues the caveat that the exact value of pollination
services from natural habitats is difficult to pin down using currently
available data, Kremen said the findings highlight from a biophysical perspective
how important this value is.
###
Sources: Claire Kremen, _(510) 643-6339_ (tel:(510)%20643-6339) ,
_ckremen at berkeley.edu_ (mailto:ckremen at berkeley.edu)
Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, _(831) 331-6015_ (tel:(831)%20331-6015) ,
_rchaplin at berkeley.edu_ (mailto:rchaplin at berkeley.edu)
Lynn Huntsinger, _(510) 685-1884_ (tel:(510)%20685-1884) ,
_huntsinger at berkeley_ (mailto:huntsinger at berkeley.edu)
--
Claire Kremen
Associate Professor and Head Graduate Advisor
Environmental Sciences Policy and Management
130 Mulford Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3114
510-643-6339
Fax 510-643-5438
_http://nature.berkeley.edu/kremenlab/_
(http://nature.berkeley.edu/kremenlab/)
_http://www.stockholmresilience.org/seminarandevents/seminarandeventvideos/p
ollinationservicesandagroecosystems.5.7f0b194e12b15a0bce78000508.html_
(http://www.stockholmresilience.org/seminarandevents/seminarandeventvideos/pollin
ationservicesandagroecosystems.5.7f0b194e12b15a0bce78000508.html)
_http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/12/MNU710263B.DTL_
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/12/MNU710263B.DTL)
_http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/434_
(http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/434)
_http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/10_madagascar.shtml_
(http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/10_madagascar.shtml)
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