General Mills is teaming up with the Xerces Society, a wildlife conservation nonprofit, to help save pollinators, says The Guardian. The food manufacturer, which has contributed $4 million to other pollinator conservation projects since 2011,says it will give $2 million to the Xerces-led program to make 100,000 acres of North American farmland pollinator-friendly over the next five years.
“Most of our products contain honey, fruits, vegetables and other ingredients that require pollination,” said Jerry Lynch, chief sustainability officer at General Mills. “So healthy and abundant bee populations are a priority for us.”
“Each year, pollinators contribute more than $24 billion to the U.S. economy. Honeybees alone are responsible for $15 billion of it by boosting the production of fruits, nuts and vegetables,” says The Guardian. But “nearly 30 percent of American honeybees were lost last winter, according to the Department of Agriculture. More than a quarter of the 46 bumblebee species in North America are considered at risk. Another study found that up to 40% percent of pollinators, including bees and butterflies, are in decline worldwide.”
Chemical sprays like neonicotinoids, loss of habitat and invasive mites have all been implicated in the downfall of pollinators. But scientists have found that replanting habitat with flowers and cutting down on the amount of herbicides and pesticides used can help.
A task force established by President Obama announced plans earlier this year to restore 7 million acres worth of pollinator habitat by 2021. USDA will also contribute $2 million in funds to the Xerces-General Mills program, which will focus on helping farmers decide which native plants to replant and where, while minimizing chemical sprays.
“Many farmers are good at growing single crops, but pollinator habitat is about growing diversity, something a lot of farmers haven’t done,” says Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society, adding that replanting land can be expensive for growers. “Some sites might be wetter, some might be drier or on a slope. There’s a lot that goes into what type of flowers will attract which pollinators on what site.”