More than $4 million in funding and expert advice will be provided to farmers and ranchers in five Midwestern states, to improve habitat for honey bees, a valuable crop pollinator that suffers high mortality rates. In an announcement, USDA said it renewing and expanding a $3 million pilot program that was launched earlier this year. Funding will flow through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program with a Nov 21 deadline for applications from Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. During the summer, the Midwest is home to 65 percent of the nation’s commercially managed bee colonies.