Pollinating insects are of most importance for safe food production.
An European collaboration helps to ensure their presence in different plant cultures and climatic conditions.
Insect pollination is worth €15 Billion in the EU but wild pollinators are declining because of loss in flower-rich habitats.
In response the EU adopted a pollinator initiative in 2018. The North Sea Region (NSR) is one of the most productive agricultural areas but pollinators are in decline across the region. The overall objective is to increase levels of pollinators and crop pollination at local and landscape scales by providing land managers and policy makers with new expertise, tools and financial knowledge to create more sustainable and resilient agroecosystems.
BEESPOKE brings together a wide range of partners from policy makers, research institutes, advisory and end users from 7 NSR countries to develop new products and approaches to increase the diversity of insect pollinators and crop yields by 10%. We will develop bespoke seed mixes and habitat management guidelines to support the suite of pollinators required for 14 crop types across 72 demonstration sites. Sites for each crop will showcase best management practices and training materials will be developed for biodiversity monitoring and measuring pollination. The same agroecosystems occur across the NSR and transnational cooperation will also give economies of scale for development of these novel tools.
The approach will empower land managers to adopt pollinator management as a routine practice, fostering a bottom-up, land manager approach, creating a legacy to ensure continuing improvements for insect pollination of food crops.
For more information see project owner website: BEESPOKE!
Partners
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, UKNIAB EMR, UK
Ghent University, BelgiaKøbenhavns universitet, Danmark
HortiAdvice A/S, Danmark
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Sverige
Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Tyskland
University of Kent, UK
Odling I Balans, Sverige
Grünlandzentrum Niedersachsen, Tyskland
NORSØK, NorgeKIVIKS MUSTERI AB, Sverige
Vlaamse Landmaatschappij, Belgia
Inagro VZW, Belgia
Provincie Fryslân, Nederland
Stichting Van Hall Larenstein, Nederland
Cruydt-Hoeck v.o.f, Nederland
Coöperatieve vereniging Coöperatie, Nederland
Agrarisch Collectief Waadrâne U.A. , Nederland