GROWMARK is providing an opportunity for 4-H clubs to be a part of sustaining and increasing the honey bee population. 4-H clubs in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin with a public space and secure permission are eligible for enough seeds to plant a 700 square foot pollinator garden and educational signage. “Last year, we had nearly 40 clubs participating in …
GROWMARK and FS Support Pollinator Literacy in Illinois
Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (IAITC) programs are buzzing with an increased emphasis on pollinators, thanks to GROWMARK and its FS member cooperatives. At the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) annual meeting this week, GROWMARK Corporate Relations and Foundation Manager Amy Bradford announced new collaborative efforts focused on activities and education related to the importance of pollinators. “We place a high …
Milestone for General Mills, Xerces Society and NRCS
The U.S. Department of Agriculture hosted an announcement between themselves, General Mills, and the largest and oldest pollinator conservation organization, the Xerces Society this morning. The three organizations are joining together to protect the habitats of pollinators on hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. The project is a five-year, $4 million commitment to provide the technical assistance for planting …
Pastures For Pollinators is a Winner
A new clover seed mixture developed by Grassland Oregon (GO) is a win-win for livestock producers and the environment. Pastures for Pollinators is a seed blend including a variety of flowering annual clovers that could help enhance pollinator habitat nationwide, according to GO co-founder Risa DeMasi. “There are 400 million acres of pasture ground in the U.S., and it happens …
Bayer Celebrates Fall with Bee Care
Fall is a time of pumpkin pie and hot apple cider, but neither of these would be possible without the hard work of pollinators. To honor the efforts of these busy creatures, Bayer is celebrating fall with their Feed a Bee program and the planting of wildflowers and dedicated forage areas. Feed a Bee is on a mission to create pollinator …
GROWMARK Buzzing For Pollinator Program
GROWMARK has made an ongoing commitment to ensuring the financial and environmental sustainability of the solutions they offer their growers, and their commitment to sustainability was made evident through several of the programs discussed last week during the GROWMARK Annual Meeting and Agribusiness Symposium. Lance Ruppert, Director of Agronomy Marketing, sat down during the meeting to discuss several of the …
Celebrating The Bees Behind Craft Beer
Rogue Ales is celebrating all 7,140,289 of their honeybees with the release of two new products, Honey Kolsch and Marionberry Braggot. Both are made with honey foraged from Rogue Farms spring nectar sources including marionberry, cherry, jalapeño, cucumber, pumpkins and wildflower blossoms. This spring’s honey harvest brought its own unique flavor, and it is highlighted in both beer and braggot. …
New Insights On Colony Collapse Disorder
Researchers from Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Life Sciences recently discovered that the commonly accepted claim that blames nutritional deprivation for the increasing collapse of honey bee colonies is incorrect. The two studies published by ASU researchers found that the stress of short-term nutritional deprivation as larvae actually makes honey bees more resilient to starvation as adults. The findings …
Tweet a Bee, #FeedABee
Bayer is gearing up to make a significant impact on pollinator health in 2016 by planting more forage and spreading the word about the importance of pollinators with the debut of the Feed a Bee song and video and new social media initiatives to help keep pollinators healthy. We talked with our favorite Queen Bee Becky Langer, Bayer Bee Care …
BASF Kicks Off #Classic16 with #LivingAcres
Agricultural media heard from BASF Crop Protection executives Wednesday at the 10th annual Science Behind event, held prior to the start of the 2016 Commodity Classic in New Orleans. The event was held appropriately for the topic at the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insecterium which helped showcase findings from a BASF biodiversity research initiative called Living Acres. “Living Acres is …