Agricultural producers, beekeepers, and conservationists alike realize using cover crops to improve both soil and pollinator health is smart farming. Non-profit organizations like Project Apis m . have gone a step further and have developed programs like Seeds for Bees. This program awards free or discounted cover crop seeds to farmers seeking to increase sustainability by improving both pollinator and soil health. Learn more by visiting projectapism.org/sfb-home or contacting Stetcyn Maldonado at stetcyn@projectapism.org.
Billy Synk, California Habitat Program Manager Pollinator Partnership
Bibliography 1. Preliminary University of California Research. wcngg. com/2019/10/04/cover-cropping-in-almonds- exploring-benefits-and-tradeoffs/ 2. N iño, Elina (2016-2017) Longitudinal Evaluation of Honey Bee Colonies on Different Forage Regimes. Almond Board of California Annual Research Report 3. S cofield H.N., Mattila H.R. (2015) Honey Bee Workers That Are Pollen Stressed as Larvae Become Poor Foragers and Waggle Dancers as Adults. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0121731 4. D eGrandi-Hoffman G., Chen Y., Rivera, R. et al. (2016) Honey bee colonies provided with natural forage have lower pathogen loads and higher overwinter survival than those fed protein supplements. Apidologie 2016 47: 186.
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NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2024
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