Impacts on Farming

• Pollinating insects help to increase your crop yields and add money to your bottom line.
• Beneficial native insects provide up to 30% of your pollination needs. Unfortunately, these pollinators are in serious decline.
• Our farm and ranch lands that support pollinators are disappearing at the alarming rate of 3,000 acres a day.

Ways Farmers Can Help Pollinators

• Leave a section of your lawn or pastures un-mowed and un-grazed during the growing season.
• Investigate planting a pollinator meadow.
• Increase the numbers of pollinators on your land. This will support other wildlife such as birds and game animals, improve the quality of water runoff, decrease your soil loss, and reduce your need for expensive pesticides.
• Avoid pesticides, even so-called “natural” ones such as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). If you must use them, use the most selective and least toxic ones and apply them at night when most pollinators aren’t active.
• Create forage and nesting habitats by adding flowering plants, hedgerows, and other shrubs. Include plants that flower in spring, summer and fall. Check out KCD’s native plant sale pollinator section each year.
• Use reduced-tillage practices, as many native bees live in the soil.
• Start to develop riparian (streamside) zones for wildlife habitats and corridors.
• Allow some crops to bolt which gives pollinators additional food sources and encourages them to stay around for when you are need of them.
• Plant cover crops that support pollinators like crimson clover, white clover, red clover, vetch, sudangrass and buckwheat.

It’s Weed Season!