Farming for Bees: Conservation of Native Pollinators

It is estimated that pollinators provide an ecosystem service that enables plants to produce fruits and seeds in U.S. agriculture that have an annual value between $18 to $27 billion dollars. For many crops, like alfalfa and low bush blueberry, native bees have proven to be many times more efficient at pollination than commercially provided honey bees. This presentation is broken into six parts to give the viewer a better understanding of how to manage for native pollinators.Viewers will learn about:

1. the importance of pollinators;
2. native bee diversity;
3. the value of natural areas;
4. enhancing and restoring habitat;
5. pollinator friendly farming; and
6. additional resources.

The information presented will be useful to farmers who want to reduce their reliance on commercially available honey bees, and the associated costs of this activity, as well as to individuals just interested in learning more about native bees.This webinar is sponsored by the USDA NRCS East National Technology Support Center.

Presenter: Eric Mader, Assistant Pollinator Program Director, Xerces Society, Portland, OR

Contact Nancy Adamson, Ph.D., Pollinator Conservation Specialist, for technical assistance.
Contact Holli Kuykendall, Ph.D., National Technology Specialist, for more information about our webinars.

Webinars are made possible through a partnership between USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services NRCS, Southern Regional Extension Forestry and North Carolina State University