IN YOUR ORCHARD
Bee Friendly Farming Certification
What it is Pollinator Partnership: BFF Certification
Bee Friendly Farming (BFF) is a certification program from Pollinator Partnership working with growers to help protect, preserve, and promote pollinator health. BFF provides guidelines for growers to promote pollinator health on their lands through helping growers incorporate affordable, simple, science-based guidelines, like offering nutrition and habitats for bees, and integrated pest management strategies. By becoming a Bee Friendly Farming member, you can help preserve and protect the pollinator populations by implementing positive, incremental changes on your property. Program members are an essential part of keeping our pollinators healthy and food supply abundant. To learn more, visit: pollinator.org/bff/bff-us
Why it’s important 75% to 95% (Ollerton et al, 2011) of all flowering plants on the earth need help with pollination – they need pollinators. Pollinators provide pollination services to more than 180,000 different plant species and more than 1,200 crops. That means that one out of every three bites of food you eat is there because of pollinators (Klein et al, 2007; Buchmann and Nabhan 1996). If we want to talk dollars and cents, pollinators add 217 billion dollars to the global economy (Gallai et al, 2009; Losey and Vaughan, 2006), and honey bees alone are responsible for between 1.2 and 5.4 billion dollars in agricultural productivity in the United States (Southwick and Southwick, 1999). In addition to the food we eat, pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, protect from severe weather, and support other wildlife (Costanza et al, 1997). Pollinator populations are changing. Many pollinator populations are in decline and this decline is attributed most severely to a loss in feeding and nesting habitats (NRCNA, 2006; Kremen et al. 2002). Pollution, the misuse of chemicals, disease, and changes in climatic patterns all contribute to the shrinking
and shifting of pollinator populations. In some cases, there isn’t enough data to gauge a response, and this is even more worrisome. California produces 76% of the world’s almonds, accounting for 100% of national production (Almond Board of California, 2023; CDFA, 2020). This production amounted to more than $3.5 billion in 2022 (CDFA, 2023) from 1.35 million bearing acres (USDA, 2022). Almonds are mostly self-incompatible and traditionally rely on cross-pollination for crop production. Cross-pollination is reliant on pollinators to facilitate the transfer of pollen from flower to flower. However, pollinators are currently at risk. Bee declines have been attributed to anthropogenic factors such as climate change, pesticide use, habitat loss, pest and disease pressure, and their interactions (Potts et al., 2010; Vandbergen and IPI, 2013; Goulson et al., 2015; Hamblin et al., 2017; Stulligross and Williams, 2020). In intensive agricultural landscapes, habitat loss and exposure to pesticides are likely the main factors contributing to wild pollinator decline (Stulligross and Williams, 2020; Kremen et al., 2002; Sheffield et al.,
2008). Growers can implement best management practices to mitigate these issues and establish resilient and robust pollination systems that include managed and wild bees. These are critical to maximizing yield, crop quality, soil health, water retention, and long-term sustainability of most almond production. BFF standards, like offering nutrition and habitat for bees, and integrated pest management strategies, guide farmers towards enhanced pollination services. Program members are an essential part of keeping our pollinators healthy and our yields abundant. How to do it What are the criteria to obtain Pollinator Partnership’s Bee Friendly Farming certification? 1. Offer nutritious forage for bees on at least 3% of cropped acreage. Forage can be temporary and can include cover crops if they are left to bloom. 2. Provide bloom of different flowering plants throughout the growing season, from early spring to late autumn. There is no minimum land coverage for seasonal bloom.
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ALMOND FACTS
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