[Pollinator] New initiative -- Bee Better Certified Offers a New Approach to Protecting Pollinators

Tue Jun 20 06:20:04 PDT 2017

Hi everyone,

Happy Pollinator Week! Thank you for everything that each of you do to
support and protect pollinators. We’d be nowhere without them and they’d be
in even worse straights without all of you.

This week, the Xerces Society is launching a new pollinator conservation
initiative, Bee Better Certified <http://beebettercertified.org/>, a
certification program targeted at farms and food companies. The program was
developed in partnership with Oregon Tilth <https://tilth.org/>, and with
the support of a Conservation Innovation Grant from USDA’s Natural
Resources Conservation Service
<https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/>.

Bee Better Certified is just one part of our pollinator conservation
efforts! Throughout National Pollinator Week we’ll be highlighting some of
our partners and sharing other news and suggestions for what you can do to
help bees, butterflies, and other pollinators this week and every week.
Follow us on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/xercessociety/>, Instagram
<https://www.instagram.com/xercessociety/?hl=en>, or Twitter
<https://twitter.com/xercessociety> to get all the updates.

Matthew

*********************

http://xerces.org/2017/06/19/bee-better-certified-creating-better-places-for-bees-2/

*Bee Better Certified™: Creating Better Places for Bees*

Collaborating with farmers to protect and restore high-quality habitat for
pollinators is a core part of the work of the Xerces Society. We have long
realized that, because farming encompasses about half of the U.S. land
base, we must work with farmers if we want to provide for a long-term
future for pollinators.

As part of our agricultural pollinator conservation efforts we are
launching a new farm and food certification program, Bee Better Certified
<http://beebettercertified.org/>™—the first third-party certification
program in the world focused specifically on pollinator conservation.

The goal of Bee Better Certified is to give bees a healthy place to live.
We know that pollinators benefit when farmers plant and manage a diversity
of flowers in their farm landscapes and limit the use of pesticides. We
also know that food companies have a desire to have on-package claims that
are standardized. The result is Bee Better Certified, which provides a
clear way forward for farmers and food companies to be certified by a
program that is science-based, third-party certified, and meaningful for
pollinators.

Thanks to Bee Better Certified, farmers can now be recognized for their
conservation efforts and businesses have the opportunity to market products
using a packaging seal that demonstrates they work with conservation-minded
growers—and consumers can shop with confidence, knowing that what they are
purchasing benefits pollinators and the farmers working to protect them.

At the heart of Bee Better Certified is a set of standards that establish a
high bar for habitat restoration and pesticide risk reduction, and ensure
that the program meets its goal of helping bees. These production standards
were developed from a thorough review of scientific literature and rigorous
vetting by a panel of experts. We also drew on the experience of a decade
of farm-tested habitat establishment and maintenance techniques. By
following the habitat standards, we know that growers will be able to
create high-value habitat that not only supports beneficial insects, but
also bolsters crop pollination.

The Bee Better Certified Production Standards are a set of requirements
that must be met by all growers wanting to be certified. Farmers are
required to dedicate at least 5% of their land to flower-rich habitat that
provides pollen, nectar, and nesting sites. In addition, exposure to
pesticides is mitigated through a combination of preventative pest
management techniques and the elimination of high-risk pesticides.

Bee Better Certified’s focus on habitat is unique among farm certification
programs, yet compatible with any farming operation. While the program may
appear most aligned with sustainable farming practices—it can assist
organic growers in meeting the National Organic Program’s biodiversity
guidance—Bee Better Certified can be adopted by growers of all types: large
or small, organic or conventional, and everything in between. Implementing
the Production Standards can enhance any operation, but in particular they
help move conventional growers towards more sustainable practices.

Bee Better Certified has been a long time in development and is something
we have entered into with the support of many fantastic farmers and
progressive food industry advisors. To help guide us, we recruited an
outstanding advisory board comprised of experts in the fields of
agriculture, certification, pesticide risk mitigation, pollinator research,
retail, and sustainable sourcing. Bee Better Certified received startup
funding through the Conservation Innovation Grant
<https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/cig/>
program run by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service
<https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/>. We are
partnering with Oregon Tilth <https://tilth.org/>, one of the largest
organic certifiers in the U.S., as the first Bee Better Certified
accredited certification body.

With continued decline of pollinator populations worldwide, we believe that
the Bee Better Certified program is a timely and excellent way to promote
the adoption of agricultural practices proven to benefit pollinators.
Together, we can create better places for bees.

Learn more about Bee Better Certified and join the movement to provide
pollinators with a healthy, sustainable environment at
www.beebettercertified.org.

(Bee Better Certified™ is a trademark of the Xerces Society, Inc.)

----------

Matthew Shepherd

Communications Director

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Protecting the Life That Sustains Us

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