Where have all the bees gone? It’s been a hot news topic for the last few years–our honeybees and other natural pollinators are disappearing en masse. While scientists struggle to understand the phenomenon, some small farmers are trying to alleviate the problem by planting natural buffer areas and strips of wildflowers to attract pollinators. According to a feature in World Ark magazine, by Sarah Schimdt:
“The flowers host several species of bumblebee, orchard mason bees, and sweat bees, as well as monarch and swallowtail butterflies, all of which are, well, busy as bees, as they fly from blossom to blossom doing what they’re uniquely qualified for—pollinating food crops.“Four years after scientists first noticed that a mysterious insect plague known as colony collapse disorder was wiping out honeybees around the globe, the exact cause has yet to be determined. In the meantime, many small and midsize farms aren’t waiting to hear the solution to the whodunit. Instead they’re enlisting more bees to pollinate their crops by luring them in with food, water and custom-made habitat, thanks in part to incentives in the latest U.S. farm bill. Though just a handful of farms have begun to put such methods to the test, their success could be an important component to averting a pollination crisis—and increasing food security worldwide.”