[Pollinator] General Mills, NRCS and the Xerces Society Announce Multi-Year, $4 Million Investment in Pollinator Habitat

[Matthew Shepherd]

*General Mills, NRCS and the Xerces Society Announce Multi-Year, $4 Million
Investment in Pollinator Habitat*



*Organizations share commitment to help pollinators prosper*





WASHINGTON, D.C., November 30, 2016---General Mills, the Xerces Society,
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announce a major milestone in their
partnership to restore and protect pollinator habitat across hundreds of
thousands of acres of farmland in North America. The five-year, $4 million
financial commitment between General Mills and USDA’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) will support farmers across the U.S. by
providing technical assistance to plant and protect pollinator habitat,
such as native wildflower field edges and flowering hedgerows.



Through 2021, this partnership will help to plant over 100,000 acres of
pollinator habitat. Providing habitat in agriculture landscapes has been
shown to help a variety of pollinators, including bumble bees, squash bees,
honey bees and butterflies, and provides benefits to crops that need insect
pollinators. Such habitat can also improve water quality, reduce soil
erosion and provide habitat for game and songbirds.



“Two-thirds of the continental United States is privately owned, making the
land management decisions of America’s farmers, ranchers and forest
landowners essential to pollinator health,” NRCS Chief Jason Weller said.
“Agricultural producers can make relatively simple tweaks on working lands
that benefit bees, butterflies and other pollinators while improving the
operation as a whole. NRCS offers more than three dozen conservation
practices that can benefit pollinators, and this partnership will enable us
to better plan and implement these practices.”



In North America alone, bees are responsible for over $25 billion in
agricultural production each year. In addition to improving the yield of
many crop species, research demonstrates that pollinators such as bees may
also improve the nutritional value and commercial quality of some crops.



“Pollinators supply one-third of the food and beverages that Americans
consume,” said Jerry Lynch, Chief Sustainability Officer at General Mills.
“As part of General Mills’ global commitment to treat the world with care,
our investment will help pollinators to continue to play a key role in
sustainable food production in the U.S.”



To create and accelerate habitat restoration for pollinators, this
partnership will support six Xerces/NRCS Pollinator Conservation Biologists
jointly managed by the NRCS and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate
Conservation, the largest and oldest pollinator conservation organization
in the world. This biologist team will support U.S. farmers by providing
individual consulting on habitat restoration and pollinator-friendly farm
management practices, evaluate habitat, and serve as advisors to other
conservation agency staff in the regions they serve. The biologists will be
based in California, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Maine.



“To date, our work with NRCS has resulted in hundreds of thousands of acres
of new or improved habitat,” said Scott Hoffman Black, Executive Director
of the Xerces Society. “This partnership will allow us to expand
conservation support in the Midwest, Northeast and California, reaching
many more farmers and bringing greater benefits to the pollinators on which
we all rely.”



For more information about pollinator conservation and to get involved,
visit www.xerces.org or www.nrcs.usda.gov/pollinators.



# # #



For more information about this partnership, see the FAQs at
http://www.xerces.org/general-mills-nrcs-xerces-society-partnership-faqs/





*About The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation
Service  *



Since 2009, USDA has invested more than $29 billion to help producers make
conservation improvements, working with a record 500,000 farmers, ranchers
and landowners to protect land and water on over 400 million acres
nationwide. For an interactive look at USDA’s work in conservation and
forestry over the course of this Administration, visit USDA Results: Caring
for our Air, Land and Water
<https://medium.com/usda-results/caring-for-our-land-air-and-water-preserving-precious-natural-resources-for-tomorrow-319ce7f275b2#.6stxjl9pc>.




*About the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation*

The non-profit Xerces Society has been protecting the life that sustains us
since 1971. In the past decade, Xerces has built the world’s largest
pollinator conservation team. With 15 pollinator conservation specialists
working closely with state and federal agencies—including 4 joint positions
with the NRCS—as well as one-on-one with growers, the Society’s work has
resulted in the creation or enhancement of over 400,000 acres of pollinator
habitat and the training of more than 70,000 farmers and other agricultural
professionals. To learn more about the Society’s work, please visit
www.xerces.org.



*About General Mills*

General Mills is a leading global food company that serves the world by
making food people love. Its brands include Cheerios, Annie’s, Yoplait,
Nature Valley, Fiber One, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El
Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, USA, General Mills had fiscal 2016 worldwide sales of US $17.6
billion, including the company’s US $1.0 billion proportionate share of
joint-venture net sales. For more information about General Mills, visit
www.generalmills.com.







*Media Contacts: *



Mollie Wulff                                        Kaveh
Sadeghzadeh                            Scott Hoffman Black

General Mills                                      NRCS
                                                  Xerces Society

Mollie.wulff at genmills.com               Kaveh.sadeghzadeh at wdc.usda.gov
scott.black at xerces.org

763-764-6340
202-720-2182                                      503-449-3792
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