Many food items, including fresh fruits and vegetables, would never make it to grocery store or farmers market shelves without the help of beneficial insects like honeybees and butterflies. The number of these pollinating insects in the U.S. is declining, and to help, Georgia agricultural experts developed a statewide plan to teach gardeners and landscapers how to care for their plants and protect these vulnerable insects that are vital to food production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue is that we have broad-scale problems with our pollinators \u2014 both in numbers and in diversity,\u201d said Kris Braman, an entomologist with the University Of Georgia College Of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and a member of the team that created the \u201cProtecting Georgia\u2019s Pollinators\u201d plan.<\/p>\n
Insect pollinators contribute more than $24 billion to the U.S., according to a fact sheet released by the White House in June 2014. A 2014 economic impact study by UGA lists the annual value of pollination in Georgia at more than $360 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cBees outperform most other pollinators, but bees are just 17.57 percent of the total pollinator population. Ants, wasps, butterflies and other insects, like native bees, play an essential role, too,\u201d Braman said. \u201cThey are very important to modern agriculture, and the service they provide to the ecosystem is free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 2006, U.S. beekeepers have lost about 30 percent of their colonies each winter. Honeybees are also dying as a result of pests, like varroa mites and hive beetles, from habitat and forage degradation and from broad applications of certain insecticides that kill other essential, pollinating insects.<\/p>\n
A large bee kill in Oregon had a ripple effect across the nation, Braman said. \u201cA landscape company improperly treated trees at a shopping center and 50,000 bees died as a result. The pesticide that was used has a very low (toxic affect on humans and animals), so it\u2019s widely used. New pesticides are being sought that have systemic effects but do not hurt bees,\u201d said Braman, who also directs the UGA Center for Urban Agriculture on the UGA campus in Griffin, Georgia.<\/p>\n
Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black said the issue of honeybee health, in particular, is \u201ccomplex\u201d and includes factors like new viral diseases, mites, nutrition and exposure to nonlethal doses of insecticides.\u00a0\u201cCommunication between farmers and beekeepers is essential if we are going to promote a healthy pollinator population. Both agricultural and nonagricultural interests will greatly benefit from this common sense plan and greater awareness of pollinator protection issues,\u201d Black said. \u201cHowever, no plan created by government or academia will ever surpass the vital role of\u00a0individual responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Georgia\u2019s plan includes guidelines \u2014 not rules \u2014 to follow to protect pollinating insects. \u201cThe plan is not an anti-pesticide plan and it\u2019s not a regulation. This is a voluntary stewardship plan. It\u2019s a list of best practices to conserve and better manage pollinator habitats and minimize pesticide exposure,\u201d said Braman.<\/p>\n
The guidelines also include ways that beekeepers can keep their bees healthy and be better neighbors. These tips include making varroa mite control a top priority, placing beehives away from human traffic, planting adequate floral resources, replacing failing queens and providing bees with an adequate water supply.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, the plan also includes guidelines for home gardeners and commercial landscapers. These tips include leaving portions of property undisturbed for soil-nesting bees, mowing grass to remove flowering weeds before applying pesticides and planting pollinator-attracting plants like crape myrtle, sages, clovers and sunflowers.<\/p>\n
Pollinators are a vital part of not only American Agriculture but more specifically local agriculture. For more information on protecting Georgia\u2019s pollinators contact the UGA Extension office Franklin County.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Many food items, including fresh fruits and vegetables, would never make it to grocery store or farmers market shelves without the help of beneficial insects like honeybees and butterflies. The number of these pollinating insects in the U.S. is declining, and to help, Georgia agricultural experts developed a statewide plan to teach gardeners and landscapers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture-natural-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/franklin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}