8/30/2016
Money for Pollinator Research
Jennifer Polanz
A more than $2.8 million grant will help define the pollinator attractiveness of landscape plants, with the end result of increasing the supply of nutritious forage for bees. The research will also help identify key plants for targeted integrated pest management approaches to reduce pesticide risk to bees.
The money comes from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRA), and it will be distributed over a two-year period with additional funds available over a total of five years. The research is a collaboration facilitated by Dr. Cristi Palmer of the IR-4 Project.
“AmericanHort and HRI see this project as critical toward providing our industry the guidance it needs to produce and maintain healthy plants and landscapes while also sustaining and improving the health of pollinators,” says Craig Regelbrugge, senior vice president at AmericanHort.
A large part of the effort will be devoted to determining consumer preference for plant labeling, education and development of pollinator protective language. Bumblebees and native bees will be the focus, and the results will directly benefit nursery and greenhouse growers, the landscape industry, garden centers and end consumers.
GP