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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
Critical Issues |
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Project Title:
Informing best management practices to reduce non-crop pesticide exposure for bees |
Project Director (PD):
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Lead State: MI Lead Organization: Michigan State University |
| Undesignated Funding: $50,000 |
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Start Date: Mar-01-2019 End Date: Feb-29-2020 |
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Summary:
Animal pollinated crops are particularly important in the North Central region of the United States, which is home to a large and diverse agricultural landscape. These crops rely on pollination services provided by managed and wild bees to produce maximum yields. Michigan is the leading state in the nation for highbush blueberry production. This is achieved, in part, through investments in honey bees and bumble bees for pollination. Approximately 100 million pounds of blueberries are produced each year in Michigan, valued at $122 million. However, growers are facing increasing pest and disease pressures that have direct effects on crop yields, and some of which require management with pesticides during bloom when managed bees are most likely to be exposed to pesticides.
Beekeepers have had record colony losses over the past decade, and several Michigan bumble bee species have seen significant population declines. Exposure to pesticides has been implicated in declining bee health. In recent experiments, our lab found that for managed bees placed in blueberry (bumble bees) and cucumber fields (honey bees) for pollination services, more than 50% of bee collected pollen is from non-crop sources. Herbaceous flowering plants are of particular interest as they often grow in and around the crop, and therefore can be particularly susceptible to off-target pesticide deposition. While the majority of best management practices for mitigating pesticide risk to bees have focused on reducing toxic exposure while visiting the crop, the role of non-crop flowers within agricultural landscapes has received relatively less attention from researchers and educators. Here, we will test two practical management strategies for minimizing pesticide exposure to bees at non-crop resources in and around agricultural fields. Drift reduction technology is an active field of study due to increasing concern about the impacts of non-target pesticide deposition. Air-induction spray nozzles have shown promising results for decreasing drift. They increase droplet size, decreasing the distance that the spray will travel. Weed control efforts, particularly mowing, have also been recommended to growers to reduce the chances of non-crop pesticide exposure in agricultural fields. Mowing has also shown promise for reducing pesticide exposure to bees in controlled field enclosures. However, these recommendations have not been explicitly tested within working farm settings. We expect that the investigated strategies can be easily integrated into grower best management practices and increase crop yields via effective pest suppression, and increase pollination services due to improved bee health. This project will directly address concerns of pollinator health stakeholders in the region, and provide recommendations for mitigating risk across fruit production systems. Adoption of the outcomes will also improve relations between growers and beekeepers, two groups who sometimes struggle to resolve conflict over use of pesticides during bloom. Improvements in wild bee health will support a robust integrated pollination approach to specialty crop production. Objectives: 1. Test if use of drift reduction nozzles during blueberry bloom minimizes non-crop deposition while providing adequate coverage to the crop. H1: Use of air-induction nozzles on air-blast sprayers will reduce non-crop deposition. H2: Air-induction nozzles will provide comparable spray coverage to the blueberry canopy compared to traditional nozzles. 2. Evaluate weed control strategies for reducing non-crop pesticide exposure. H3: Mowing and herbicide treatments will reduce bee visitation to weeds within blueberry fields. 3. Deliver an extension program to educate growers about use of drift reduction technologies and weed control measures. H4: Adoption of practices to improve bee health increases with attendance at educational outreach programs. |
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