Source: Pesticide Action Network – https://www.panna.org/
Cultivating a pollinator paradise
The sky was slightly overcast, so the sun did not bleach out the color with its light. There was only a light, sporadic breeze — just enough to keep a person comfortable. In fact, this was one of those rare times on the farm that I saw something I liked that made me stop what I was doing to go get the camera.
The purple coneflowers and oregano reached peak bloom at the same time. If you looked closer, you would see other plants that had blossomed earlier, or would flower later in the combined herb and natural wild area we maintain to support pollinators on our farm.
If you build it, will they come?
This picture tells us two stories. The first is what you might expect — there is beauty in nature. There is healing for the soul if you can just transport yourself to that field at the moment when it dresses up to show off. It is then that you truly appreciate the whole year of preparation needed to put on this spectacular show.
The second story is one of absence. The flowers were clearly in full bloom and the weather was beautiful. But, there are no pollinators in this picture. Coneflowers and oregano (and the other flowers in the area) are plants that often attract a whole host of invertebrates, yet I observed very few while I stood there to take pictures. The wind was calm, there was plenty of light, temperatures were moderate and it was a typical point in the day when there would be significant insect activity. This area should have been humming at this moment.
But, it wasn’t.
Something is going on
Our farm sees pollinators as important employees, and we do what we can to pay them by providing food and habitat throughout the year. We maintain permanent wild areas and avoid disturbing the soil in parts of the farm so ground-nesting bees and other friendly critters can have a place to thrive. We use intercropping techniques to incorporate annual flowers that encourage pollinators to visit and stay in our fields where we grow fruits and vegetables. We mow around clover patches when they are in bloom and then mow them down when they pass peak to encourage a new flush of flowers.
While it is true that we do continue to observe many interesting creatures on our “Pollinator Paradise” (or so we like to call it), we have been alarmed that we can work so hard to provide habitat and not see certain flowers swarming with all sorts of pollinating insects.
Something is going on here, and it has a direct impact on how well our farm performs. Clearly, the combination of reduced habitat and the excessive use of pesticides bear a cost that our pollinators are paying. In turn, this cost is passed on to growers of food who rely heavily on these workers.
Pollinators hard at work
Zucchini and other squash are most successfully pollinated by squash bees. A squash flower needs to be visited six to 10 times by squash bees in the early morning to set fruit properly. It takes even more visits if other types of bees are the primary pollinator. Our zucchini and summer squash production numbers have gone down per row foot over the years and we have seen more instances of fruit that were not fully pollinated. These cull fruits tend to not fill out properly or yellow and rot off while they are small. We have observed this decline in production over the past eight years on our farm.
We will grant you that weather conditions can prevent visits by pollinators, so it is not unusual to have a period of time every season where there are more culls due to poor pollination. But, there is a difference between seasonal variability and trends across multiple seasons.
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And…
MAP YOUR HAVEN
People across the U.S. are taking a stand for bees and other pollinators by providing a safe, pesticide-free haven with access to food, water and shelter. Do you have a “Honey Bee Haven” in your yard, or pollinator-friendly plants in containers on your stoop?
Add your Honey Bee Haven to the map below and show your support for the pollinators that play a key role in providing our food
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Until we see national action in the U.S. (like the EU, who banned neonics years ago), these and other states enacting neonic policies will reduce the harm posed to communities, pollinators, and our environment, and pave the way for other states to join in.
Pesticide Action Network
Neonics under fire
Over the last two decades, neonicotinoid pesticides, or neonics, have swiftly become the most widely used class of insecticides globally. And you’ve heard from PAN and our partners countless times about the dangers these chemicals pose to the wild pollinators and honeybees our food system relies on.
We’ve also shared the complications with regulating neonics. They can be sprayed onto foliage or be applied as a soil drench, but the most common use is to plant seeds that are pre-treated with the pesticide. Seed treatments are exempt from federal regulations that govern other pesticide products.
As if all of this isn’t enough. . . new research suggests that neonics may also pose health harms to humans. The good news? States have already been stepping up to protect communities.
Widespread harm
Last year, we watched disaster unfold as residents of Mead, Nebraska were getting sick – noticing sudden nosebleeds, constant coughing, and passing out while exercising. In addition to the human toll, the community saw livestock health problems and deaths, as well as “bee kills” (sudden colony collapse).
The culprit? A neighboring ethanol plant called AltEn was found to be processing thousands of pounds of unused and discarded pesticide-treated corn seed from across the country This resulted in piles and piles of waste that polluted the town’s water and soil.
Just planting these seeds is dangerous – pesticide drift can still occur, and neonics are systemic pesticides, meaning they’re absorbed into plants’ roots, leaves, fruit, and pollen, eventually finding their way into soil and waterways. And worse, neonics can escape the target plant and contaminate whole ecosystems.
Neonics were originally marketed by the agrochemical industry as a safer human health alternative to other products on the market. Nice try, Big Ag, but this clearly isn’t the case.
Humans at risk
In addition to the ability to kill bees with extraordinarily low levels of exposure, evidence continues to mount that neonic use is a major contributor to the declines of birds and fish. Research has also linked exposure in the womb with birth defects in deer as well as higher rates of death for fawns. What does this mean for humans? Nothing good.
Several animal studies have reported adverse effects of neonics on sperm, and prenatal exposure to neonics increasing the risk of neurodevelopmental abnormalities and birth defects. While more research is needed, these harms found to animals raise human health concerns.
Additionally, a systematic review of publicly available literature reported a link between human neonic exposures and malformations of the developing heart and brain, as well as symptoms that include memory loss and finger tremors.
States taking action
Following all of that bad news, there’s hope! We’ve been thrilled to see several states stepping up to protect communities from the harms of neonics. Maine led the way on this latest wave of action when, in June 2021, the state’s governor signed groundbreaking legislation into law that prohibits the use of most neonics in residential landscapes.
In January of this year, New Jersey passed a law that prohibits outdoor, non-agricultural neonic uses, likely up to 70% of neonic uses in the state. New York currently has a bill moving through the legislature, the “Birds and Bees Protection Act,” that would ban neonic-treated seeds, ornamental and turf neonic uses, and requires the state to take a hard look at other neonic uses. The most recent state taking action to curb neonic use is California, where a proposed policy would ban nearly all non-agricultural uses of the pesticides.
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