At the University of Nebraska, researchers are experimenting with the agricultural landscape to see if modifications such as windbreaks or cover crops will limit pesticide drift and help bees avoid harmful exposure to the chemicals. Farmers generally plant corn and soybean seeds coated with neonicotinoid insecticides, which can be rubbed off of the seed during planting and land on plants visited by foraging bees, says Harvest Public Media.
The so-called neonic insecticides are intended for protection against pests that attack the roots of newly sprouted crops. When bees ingest them through pollen or plant nectar, the chemicals impair the bees’ performance and the overall health of a hive, said associate professor Judy Wu-Smart. A USDA researcher, Gary Bentrup, says farmers are more amenable of “edge-of-field practices,” such as strips of pollinator habitat, than they are to changing their cropping operations.
Windbreaks are a good choice for trapping pesticides that drift from fields, Bentrup told Harvest Media. But growers often regard windbreaks as lost cropland and a barrier to irrigation equipment. So Bentrup is calling attention to economic benefits of agricultural landscape design. Research says windbreaks can boost corn, wheat and soybean yields, he says.