News Production
OMAFRA: Pollinator biodiversity benefits growers

Pollination is very important when growing crops, whether they be orchard, vegetable or field crops.  Plants go about this in various ways, including by wind or self-pollination, but it has been shown that 35 per cent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators – bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats, and beetles and other insects.

Many farmers rely on honey bees for pollination services on their farms, but increasingly there is research supporting the benefits of having a greater biodiversity of pollinators. Relying solely on one source of pollination can be risky if that species were to decline.  Some research suggests that orchards visited by many different kinds of bees will have higher seed set and fruit set than those visited by one kind of bee. |READ MORE