[Pollinator] Your help is needed to secure pollinator research funding

Fri May 1 11:57:20 PDT 2009

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YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO SECURE FARM BILL FUNDING
 FOR NATIVE AND MANAGED POLLINATOR RESEARCH

Please contact your Senators and ask them to sign on to a letter by Senator
Boxer in support of vital research on agricultural pollinators. Please read
below for additional information. *The deadline for Senators to sign on to
this letter is Wednesday, May 6.

Find the contact information for your Senator’s
office<http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm>

*Thank you,
Scott Hoffman Black
Executive Director, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation*
*
Providing funding for research into the causes and remedies of honey bee and
native bee declines is a critical step in pollinator conservation. Please
take a moment to call or write your Senator, let them know how important
pollinators are, and ask them to 1) support this appropriation and 2)
contact Senator Boxer’s office to sign on to this important letter.

Senator Boxer has written a letter* *requesting that the Agriculture
Appropriations Subcommittee allocate $20 million in Fiscal Year 2010 for
pollinator research projects as authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill. These
funds will increase the resilience and security of our farming systems by
supporting vital research into Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in managed
honeybees and to promote the health of honey bees and native pollinators
through habitat conservation and best management practices.

BACKGROUND
As you may know, the 2008 Farm Bill includes language authorizing $100
million over five years to further our scientific understanding of the
essential agricultural services pollinators provide our nation. The letter
only seeks to fully fund critical provisions that were recently signed into
law through legislative consensus.

Managed and native pollinators, such as honey bees, bumble bees, and other
native bees, are needed for the production of over $18 billion (and possibly
as much as $27 billion) per year in agricultural products in the U.S. These
animals are required for 35 percent of the world’s crop production. Yet,
total pollinator spending at USDA in the 2008 Fiscal Year accounted for
merely 0.01 percent of the agency’s budget. Without pollinators, our current
yields of alfalfa, almonds, apples, cherries, cranberries, blueberries,
kiwifruit, strawberries, melons, squash, peppers, peaches, pears, plums,
carrot, onion, and other seed crops, would not be possible.

Arising in 2006, the as yet unexplained phenomenon termed Colony Collapse
Disorder (CCD) diminished our nation’s already dwindling honey bee colonies,
and highlighted our relative ignorance of the complex systems that support
animal pollinated food production.  It is vitally important to conduct
research to better understand and solve this problem.

Studies in other developed nations have well documented a diminished
presence of honey bees and other vital pollinators in interdependent
agricultural and ecological systems, but much information is lacking in the
U.S. A major conclusion of a comprehensive study by the National Academy of
Sciences in 2007 found that for most North American pollinator species,
long-term population data are lacking and knowledge of their basic ecology
is incomplete.

Funding for pollinator research will protect the health, future, safety, and
sustainability of our nation’s most nutritional food crops. These funds will
ensure that we base our sustainable future in agriculture on a more
comprehensive understanding of the science that supports it.

Thank you for your help in this effort.

Read more about the 2008 Farm Bill Benefits to Crop
Pollinators<http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/2008_farm_bill_-fact_sheet_xerces_society.pdf>>>
Read more about the Xerces Society Agricultural Pollinator Conservation
Program <http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation-agriculture/> >>
Browse the Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation
resources<http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/>>>
Browse the Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation
publications<http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation-publications/>>>

ABOUT THE XERCES SOCIETY
The Xerces Society <http://www.xerces.org/> is an international, nonprofit
organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of
invertebrates and their habitat. For over three decades, the Society has
been at the forefront of invertebrate conservation, harnessing the knowledge
of scientists and the enthusiasm of citizens to implement conservation
programs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact Scott Hoffman Black <sblack at xerces.org>, Executive Director, The
Xerces Society, 503-449-3792

PHOTO
Yellow faced bumble bee (*Bombus vosnesenskii*) on red raspberry by Mace
Vaughan.

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