[Pollinator] Beauty and the Bees -- Heifer International's World Ark magazine

[Matthew Shepherd (Xerces Society)]

Heifer International has just published an article about bee declines and efforts to increase on-farm habitat in their magazine, World Ark. The first few paragraphs are below. Read the full article at http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.6079379/ 

Matthew

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Beauty and the Bees
By Sarah Schmidt | World Ark contributor 
On the Omeg family’s Oregon cherry orchard, a 10-foot perimeter of goldenrod, catmint and blanket flower surrounds the 350 acres of trees. The flowers run between the rows, too, and in one section of the orchard, four 30-foot diameter circular patches sport a host of native prairie grasses that produce flowers of their own. It’s a lovely display, but Mike Omeg, the fifth-generation family member who now runs the orchard, didn’t work untold hours over the past three years just to make his farm prettier. The flowers host several species of bumblebee, orchard mason bees, and sweat bees, as well as monarch and swallowtail butterflies, all of which are, well, busy as bees, as they fly from blossom to blossom doing what they’re uniquely qualified for—pollinating food crops. 
Four years after scientists first noticed that a mysterious insect plague known as colony collapse disorder was wiping out honeybees around the globe, the exact cause has yet to be determined. In the meantime, many small and midsize farms aren’t waiting to hear the solution to the whodunit. Instead they’re enlisting more bees to pollinate their crops by luring them in with food, water and custom-made habitat, thanks in part to incentives in the latest U.S. farm bill. Though just a handful of farms have begun to put such methods to the test, their success could be an important component to averting a pollination crisis—and increasing food security worldwide. 
The dramatic drop in the world bee population isn’t just about honey. In fact, about one-third of all food crops worldwide depend on insect pollination. Everything from almonds to apples to cucumbers to soybeans—$15 billion worth in the United States alone, according to the latest Department of Agriculture estimates—are at risk. And while scientists are still working intently to pinpoint the causes of the mysterious syndrome, annual honeybee losses continue to hover around an alarming 30 percent. “We have just enough bees right now, but we’re near the tipping point,” said Marla Spivak, entomologist and professor of apiculture at the University of Minnesota. “We rely on pollination for so many crops—the impact could be severe.” 
VANISHING HABITAT 
Ever since people first began to cultivate food crops, bees and butterflies have been pollinating many of them. And until very recently, the job was done efficiently and free of charge by whatever pollinating insects were native to the area.
“When our landscape was more diverse, pollinators had plenty of varied habitat,” explained Eric Mader, national pollination coordinator of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit devoted to invertebrate conservation. In the past, a wider variety of wildflowers, trees, and grasses bloomed at different times of year and provided a steady stream of pollen and nectar for wild bees. Farms also provided food and shelter, since most rotated food and cover crops like clover. But the landscape of most industrialized countries—and, increasingly, developing ones—has changed drastically over the past 50 years. 

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The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization that 
protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their 
habitat. To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our 
work, please visit www.xerces.org.

Matthew Shepherd
Senior Conservation Associate
4828 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97215, USA
Tel: 503-232 6639 Cell: 503-807 1577 Fax: 503-233 6794
Email: mdshepherd at xerces.org 
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