pollinators

Grower organizations representing a variety of crops are disappointed with the EPA’s draft biological evaluation for several neonicotinoid products. The groups representing farmers across the country said that failure to consider real-world usage data in the analysis conducted as part of the Endangered Species Act could limit growers’ ability to protect their crops from pests, protect their liveli

It is one of the challenges in finding solutions to address and improve pollinator health. "There are quite a few aspects to pollinator health which can make data collection tricky. And to make things even more difficult, is that they are all inter-related ...

In early June, the Washington Department of Agriculture announced that the first Asian giant hornet of 2021 was discovered dead in Snohomish County. Managing Entomologist Sven Spichiger noted that the male insect was significantly different in its coloration as compared to specimens collected in 2019 and 2020 ...

A new Western Monarch butterfly breeding pattern is spurring hope that the butterfly is adapting to climate and ecology change. Washington State University Associate Professor, Dr. David James, said the studies done indicate the strategy for overwintering has changed and the Monarchs were breeding in the San Francisco, Bay area and Los Angeles this winter. "This ...

You may not think of turf grass as a home for pollinators. Yet sweat bees, for example,  can be flying around even tunneling in yards and golf courses. And a significant finding of pollinators, whether bees, wasps, or butterflies in a home lawn or golf course is an indicator, "of the general health or general balance in terms of insect populations within the system." ...

Researchers at Oregon State University said they recently discovered that the blue orchard bee produces a great number of female offspring in the aftermath of forest fires. Researchers added the more severe the fire had been, the greater percentage of females, more than 10% greater in the most badly burned areas relative to areas that burned the least severely ...

Washington State University scientists working on developing robotic crop pollination technology recently received a nearly $1 million grant from the USDA. Associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering Manoj Karkee said they started looking at the feasibility of this technology because of growing concerns and needs reported by those in the tree fruit industry and othe

Last week, the Washington state Department of Agriculture and the USDA confirmed a fourth Asian giant hornet was recently found in the northwest corner of the state. The queen hornet was reportedly stepped on by a Bellingham resident June 6th, roughly 20 miles from where the first two hornets were discovered in December ...

When you think Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, what uses come to your mind. Most likely, you'll think of highly sensitive farm lands come up, that could become grassland, or prairie, or restored wetlands. But Randall Cass with Iowa State University said CRP land makes a great habitat for pollinators of all types including honey bees, both wild and commercially produced ...

On Thursday, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley joined a host of other lawmakers from the U.S. Senate and House introducing the Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat (MONARCH) Act.  Supporters of the legislation say this bipartisan, bicameral proposal would provide urgent protections for the struggling western monarch butterfly, a pollinator that is integral to supporting American agricu