What It Bees!

[Lee Borgersen]

          USDA extends habitat funding for honeybees in Midwest


 A well-received federal pilot project to improve the health of honeybees in Minnesota and other Midwestern states has been renewed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with $4 million to help farmers and ranchers make plantings that provide bee habitat.


  .......
Minnesota participants planted 591 acres under the program in its first year, and four other eligible states in the Upper Midwest planted more.

The Midwest is home to more than 65 percent of the commercially managed honeybees in the country, and honeybees pollinate an estimated $15 billion worth of fruits, vegetables and other crops.

"The future of America’s food supply depends on honeybees, and this effort is one way USDA is helping improve the health of honeybee populations," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement released Wednesday.

The program, which follows on a White House "pollinator summit" last summer, allows the USDA to work with farmers and ranchers to spread knowledge about factors associated with Colony Collapse Disorder.

The biggest user of the program in its first year was South Dakota, with 14,000 of the total 26,000 acres enrolled. The other states involved in the conservation effort are Wisconsin, Michigan and North Dakota.

President Obama has initiated a federal strategy to promote the health of honeybees and other pollinators; the planting assistance program is designed to expand the acreage and forage value in conservation programs. Applications for funding are due Nov. 21.


An Dats What It Bees............


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