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6. Predictive Tools for Farmers
BEESPOKE helps farmers to promote pollination
Dr. Ivan Meeus & Dr. Daniel Ariza (Ghent University)
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BEESPOKE provides two tools which help farmers to improve land use to promote pollinators. More specific we make suggestions how pollination services can be improved for a specific crop of interest.
Tool 1
Expected pollination service and effect of a flower strip
Tool 1 calculates the free pollination service of wild bees based on the landscape characteristics in the landscape around the crop of interest. The user is able to draw an area where landscape improvement (for example a flower strip) can be placed; the tool calculates the percentage that the pollination service increases.
TOOL 2 Selecting wildflower seeds for your crop
A second tools helps to select good flower seeds, i.e. flowers to support the bee species that will pollinate the crop of interest, a second tool will give some suggestion of flowers supporting good pollinator species per crop and country. Note the suggestions made here are for inspiration, and knowledge on how attract bee crop pollinator species, abiotic factors like soil, sun, … are not integrated.
