Plantings in Texas, Kansas, Illinois and Florida will educate communities and establish more forage for spring 2017
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. (Nov. 1, 2016) – Each year, we eagerly look forward to fall, the official season of harvest time, pumpkin pie and hot apple cider. But none of these fall favorites would be quite as beloved without the hard work put in by pollinators earlier in the year. That’s why this fall, the Bayer Feed a Bee program will celebrate and promote pollinator health by providing them with some of their favorite things – native wildflowers and dedicated areas of diverse forage options throughout the nation.
Feed a Bee and The Wildlife Society (TWS) have embarked on a six-week tour to establish additional pollinator forage at four locations across the U.S. Announced at TWS’ annual conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, October 15 – 19, approximately 50 million wildflower seeds will be planted at strategic locations in Texas, Kansas, Illinois and Florida, where TWS has a robust regional presence.
“The Feed a Bee program is tackling a really important need for pollinators by conducting plantings across the nation this fall,” said Ken Williams, chief executive officer of TWS. “At TWS, dedicated chapter members in each region are working now to identify the optimum mix of wildflower seeds to plant in each location to ensure pollinators have access to a wide variety of diverse nutrition sources when bloom occurs in the spring.”
The original goal established for the Feed a Bee program this year was to generate enough social actions through “Tweet a 🐝, #FeedABee” to plant 25 million pollinator-attractant wildflower seeds. Each share of the bee emoji and #FeedABee online triggered additional, real wildflower seeds being tallied for the fall plantings. Thanks to overwhelming support from the public and the generous donations of acreage from partner organizations, the four plantings will take place across enough land to plant 50 million wildflower seeds total.
Existing Feed a Bee partners will plant native wildflowers this fall, including:
- Texas Tech University Department of Plant and Soil Science in Lubbock, Texas
- McCarty Family Farms in Scott City, Kansas
- Salem4youth in Flanagan, Illinois
- The Packers of Indian River in Fort Pierce, Florida.
The pollinator tour kicked off in October in Lubbock, Texas, where the Texas Tech University (TTU) Department of Plant and Soil Science hosted an educational pollinator field day that highlighted new native bee and habitat research being conducted by graduate students. Attendees, including local growers, TTU students and representatives from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service also helped establish new forage areas for pollinators at the Quaker Avenue Research Farm, the 130-acre farm operated by the department.
“Pollinators, including native bees, honey bees and more, play an important role in agriculture and our ecosystem as a whole,” said Dr. Scott Longing, assistant professor of entomology at TTU and member of the Texas Chapter of TWS. “By continuing to research ways to combat the challenges they face and planting additional forage in the meantime, we can help promote and protect pollinator health in a variety of ways.”
According to Dr. Longing, pollinators’ contributions to crop yields and threats to biodiversity on the highly fragmented southern high plains have been dramatically understudied.
“From a better understanding of the associations of habitat resources, landscapes and agricultural practices, we hope to assist producers in sustaining pollination services in crops, while developing information to support the conservation of broader pollinator biodiversity in the region.
Following the field day, Feed a Bee visited the Carolyn Lanier Youth Farm for a special program with the South Plains Food Bank’s Growing Recruits for Urban Business (GRUB) Program, which teaches young adults how to plant, grow, maintain, harvest and market their own produce, while also providing classes on nutrition and healthy living. The students were able to view a working hive up close before getting their hands dirty and planting additional forage next to their garden plots.
“Every Saturday, our students learn more about all the hard work that goes into growing fruits and vegetables, but the Feed a Bee event helped them understand the role of the hardest workers of all – pollinators,” said Lynn Weir, director of Farm, Orchard and GRUB Division for the South Plains Food Bank.
The remaining plantings will take place throughout November and December and promise to engage with even more partner organizations and communities to celebrate pollinators and establish additional forage.
“Every additional bit of forage planted helps pollinators, whether it’s next to a community garden, alongside cropland or in a homeowner’s backyard,” said Dr. Becky Langer, project manager for the North American Bayer Bee Care Program. “We’re proud to work with TWS and our other fantastic Feed a Bee partners this fall for the first annual forage planting tour. By planting these wildflower seeds, we’re helping to sow a healthier spring for honey bees and other pollinators.”
Feed a Bee is a national initiative to plant more wildflowers for pollinators and educate a broader audience about the importance of pollinator health. By enlisting the help of more than 500,000 individuals and more than 115 partner organizations, Feed a Bee has planted more than 155 million pollinator-attractant flowers to date. Individuals can get involved by visiting FeedABee.com to pledge to plant their own pollinator patches and learn more about other ways to get involved throughout the year.
For more information on Bayer bee health initiatives, including Feed a Bee, please visit: Beehealth.Bayer.us. You can also follow and share with us on Twitter @BayerBeeCare, on Facebook at Facebook.com/BayerBeeCareCenter and view photos on Flickr.
The Wildlife Society
Founded in 1937, the Wildlife Society is a strong and effective voice in representing wildlife conservation and management, and ensuring sustainable wildlife populations in healthy ecosystems. The mission of TWS is to represent and serve the professional community of scientists, managers, educators, technicians, planners, and others who work actively to study, manage, and conserve wildlife and its habitats worldwide. Find us on the web at www.wildlife.org.
Bayer: Science For A Better Life
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2015, the Group employed around 117,000 people and had sales of EUR 46.3 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.3 billion. These figures include those for the high-tech polymers business, which was floated on the stock market as an independent company named Covestro on October 6, 2015. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.