Bee-friendly agriculture

Advice from Inagro on a selection of farming practices

Written by Thomas van Loo (Inagro), translated by Anna Vollmer

If you want to lend a helping hand to the pollinators of your crops, there are a couple of effective measures worth considering. Wildflower strips are often the first thing that comes to mind, but there are more options in addition to establishing (preferably perennial) wildflower strips.

You could

think

Of

installing mixed hedges and properly maintain them applying pesticides very cautiously and only if really necessary establishing flower-rich meadows mowing part of your alfalfa plot according to a phased mowing schedule cultivating flowering crops.

Lupine Field Beans

chickpeas zucchini camelina hard fruits.

However, most crops only flower for a very limited time. For this reason, providing additional flowering plants might be necessary to extend the flowering period as long as possible: pollinators like bumblebees need food sources from early in the season up until late in the year.

1. Providing sufficient food sources throughout the year in the form of flowering plants (herbs, shrubs, trees and crops).

It is important to stretch the flowering period of successive flowering plants as long as possible. Think of the life of a bumblebee colony: the queens awake from hibernation in February or March. They then have to start a colony by themselves. At that time, it is important that they find sufficient amount of food for themselves as well as their larvae.

Once the colony established, the bees need nectar and pollen until October. This is when the last new queens leave the colony in search of a suitable place to spend the winter, after which the whole cycle starts again.

2. Shelter and nesting facilities (e.g. hedges, old (mouse) holes, sparse vegetation (bare ground present), rough herbaceous vegetation, hollow stems).

Several the well-known pollinators (honeybees and all species of bumblebees) live in colonies and therefore need relatively large cavities. For instance, bumblebees often nest in old mouse holes, cavities in trees or they weave their own nest in rougher herbaceous vegetation. These are all elements that can often be found in and along hedges. Less well-known pollinators, various species of solitary bees in particular dig tunnels in the ground themselves or use existing holes above the ground.

3. Protect pollinators as much as possible from contact with pesticides.

Plant protection products often have harmful side effects next to the purpose for which they are initially used. Some products kill bees when they come in direct contact with it. Other products do not kill the bees directly but might substantially impair them, for example in their ability to navigate properly. Besides that, bees are usually not exposed to the harmful effects of a single product but to multiple different products at the same time.

It is therefore crucial to consider the use of pesticides very reasonably and thoughtfully: try to avoid application schemes based on fixed dates and only intervene when the spread of pest species is really getting out of hand - give the natural enemies a chance. If effective intervention indeed is required: try to apply the pesticides only when no bees are active and do not treat crops that are flowering. Rinse your sprayer in a place where the rinse water can be collected and processed and therefore does not end up in the environment.

Inagro’s agricultural demonstration plot

Inagro manages a field where several agri-environmental measures are applied. These measures not only support general biodiversity but also bring advantages for the farmer. With the demonstration and management of these measures in the plot, Inagro gains more practical experiences and knowledge about the different measures and their management and can in turn transfer this knowledge back to the sector. Visitors of the plot benefit from the demonstration in the field rather than just reading about it.

On the plot there are perennial wildflower strips, mixed loose hedges, a beetle bank, a flowery mixture that focuses on the needs of partridges as well as a kestrel box installed on a post. In addition, the plot also offers space to set up crop-related trials. For example, in 2022 there was a trial in which we wanted to find out whether it is possible to sow flowering field herbs in winter wheat without the seeds ending up in the harvested crop during threshing.

You can read the article in Dutch as well.