In continuing its focus on pollinator health, Bayer CropScience announced the donation of $100,000 to Project Apis m., a nonprofit organization dedicated to better bee health through its work with growers.
Project Apis m. will use the fund from Bayer to provide seed mixes to growers in California and Washington who have agreed to plant cover crops for honeybees before and after almond bloom and other key seasons.
“This initiative is a direct response to the lack of adequate forage needed to keep honeybees healthy and thriving,” says Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP North America.
According to the news release, the project will help build a healthier bee population to support crop pollination nationwide as bee colonies are transported to other states for other growing seasons.
Bayer reports that the expanded partnership with Project Apis m. will complement its joint field research projects conducted on fence rows near almond orchards at Bayer’s Western Bee Care Technology Station in Fresno, California.
If growers allow forage planting adjacent to fields, rather than planting from fence row to fence row, they can reduce the loss of irrigation water, better manage soil quality and weeds and help support wildlife, including pollinators, according to Bayer’s research with Project Apis m. Local growers and landowners who participate in this project will plant the provided seeds on land with crops and on nearby plots to help ensure direct benefit to them and nearby bee colonies.
