USDA announces key measures to improve pollinator health

During National Pollinator Week June 20-24, the United States Department of Agriculture announced two new initiatives in support of the President's National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honeybees and Other Pollinators, announced just over one year ago. A review of USDA's most popular conservation program found that farmers and ranchers across the country are creating at least 15 million acres of healthy forage and habitat for pollinators, and the department has also entered into a new partnership with leading honey bee organizations that will help ensure future conservation projects continue to provide benefits to these important species.

"Pollinators are small but mighty creatures who need our help as much as we need theirs, and that is why USDA is dedicating resources from all corners of our department to boost their habitat and better understand how to protect them," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "In addition to creating healthy habitat and food for pollinators through our conservation work, USDA research is leading to breakthroughs in pollinator survival that may reverse the declines we've seen over the past few decades. We look forward to continued collaboration with America's beekeepers and honey producers to ensure this work is meaningful and effective."

USDA has signed a memorandum of understanding with two honey bee organizations, the American Honey Producers Association and the American Beekeeping Federation, to facilitate an ongoing partnership that will ensure USDA's conservation initiatives are as advantageous as possible to pollinators and that beekeepers understand how they can benefit from USDA's conservation and safety net programs. For several years, USDA's Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service have worked closely with these groups and others to help improve habitat for honeybees and other pollinators in various conservation programs. The national strategy emphasized the need for public-private partnerships like this one to expeditiously expand pollinator-health initiatives to achieve the scale necessary to make meaningful and long-term improvements.

FSA also plays a critical role in the delivery of programs that provide a safety net for beekeepers who experience losses due to natural disasters, and the agency administers the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program, which provides assistance for the loss of honey bee colonies, in excess of normal mortality, due to colony collapse disorder or other natural causes. These groups have helped ensure that these safety net programs work well, and they have helped focus research to learn more about the impacts of USDA programs and make continuous improvements. This memorandum creates a framework to ensure ongoing, meaningful information sharing to help beekeepers and honey bees into the future.

In addition, a thorough review of USDA's Conservation Reserve Program has revealed that farmers and ranchers across the country have created more than 15 million acres of healthy habitat and forage for pollinators through the program. Of these, 269,000 acres are enrolled in a pollinator-specific initiative, but these creatures are also helped by several other program initiatives on private land that provide wildflowers, shrubs and safe nesting sites through measures that are intended to improve water quality or create bird habitat.

The national strategy called for 7 million acres of land to be enhanced or restored for pollinators. Since then, USDA has more than tripled the acreage enrolled in the pollinator initiative, through which USDA helps to cover the cost of planting pollinator-friendly wildflowers, legumes and shrubs, and USDA has increased the limit on this initiative in response to landowner demand so more acres can be enrolled in the future.

USDA conducted the high-level review of existing conservation practices and other studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and universities to determine which voluntary conservation practices benefit pollinators. The FSA continues to work with USGS to assess which strategies work best to support pollinator health, and future studies may indicate that additional acres also can be considered pollinator friendly.

In its 30th year, the Conservation Reserve Program provides incentives to farmers and ranchers with the cost of establishing long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees (known as covers) to control soil erosion, improve water quality and develop wildlife habitats on marginally productive agricultural lands. This helps to combat global climate change and provides resiliency to future weather changes. This analysis shows that among its many other benefits, the program also is extraordinarily beneficial to protecting and promoting pollinator species, from honeybees to monarchs, that are essential to agricultural health.

In addition, other conservation programs like NRCS' Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program have enabled landowners to make pollinator-friendly improvements on working lands. This voluntary conservation work also strengthens agricultural operations, supports other beneficial insects and wildlife, and helps to sustain natural resources. More than three dozen NRCS conservation practices, such as prescribed grazing and cover crops, can provide direct benefits to pollinators. In recent years, NRCS has launched targeted efforts to help honey bees and monarch butterflies to accelerate efforts to create habitat.

USDA's research and outreach agencies are working in other ways to contribute to the President's National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honeybees and Other Pollinators. For example, the U.S. Forest Service is also conducting research on pollinators while restoring and improving pollinator habitat on national forests and grasslands. Over the past six years, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service has invested more than $82 million in cutting-edge pollinator research and over the past decade has published nearly 200 journal articles about pollinators.

USDA's People's Garden Initiative has launched a number of efforts to expand pollinator public education programs, including a bee cam that gives real-time insight into the 80,000 bees who live on the roof of USDA's Headquarters and pollinate the surrounding landscape. To see the bee cam, go to www.peoplesgarden.usda.gov/content/bee-watch.

For more information, go to www.fsa.usda.gov/conservation.