Landowners in five states in the upper Midwest are eligible for $8 million in payments if they establish new habitat for honey bees on land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve, says USDA. The incentives are offered in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. USDA says more than half of commercially managed honey bees are in those five states during the summer. There are 2.5 million commercially managed colonies now, compared to 6 million in 1947.
Meanwhile, the White House announced creation of an inter-agency Pollinator Health Task Force, chaired by EPA and USDA and spanning most of the government. Its first job is to write a national pollinator health strategy that will include research into cause of population declines, ways to reduce honey bee exposure to pesticides, a public education campaign and steps to expand pollinator habitat on federal land.