Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles and practices are a critical component of pollinator protection approaches in farming. The 2022 BeSure campaign from the Growing Matters Coalition reminds industry members that pollinators play a vital role in agriculture and need to be kept safe. Field Development Representative for Gowan, Dr. Shine Taylor said there are several ways that growers can keep pollinator health in mind when making pesticide applications.
“We want to make sure there’s something to spray and something to target, so we can reduce the amount of pesticides that are going out by just scouting. By just looking for those problems and making those recommendations to solve those problems,” Taylor explained. “The other thing is to make sure we target the crop and we reduce drift. We want to make sure we don’t drift onto those areas that could possibly have bees foraging in.”
Even in cropping systems that do not require pollinators, Taylor noted that a pollinator protection philosophy remains important. Adhering to label directions is another key component of mitigating risk to bees and other pollinators. Taylor said that not only are label instructions the law, but they also take into account potential risks to non-target organisms and pollinator safety.
“[Pollinators] serve a lot of purposes in agriculture and they’re so important that we need to take risk mitigation steps and positively impact them instead of negatively impacting them,” said Taylor. “So just going back to the basics of calibrating sprayers, making sure your equipment’s maintained, and making sure that application gets onto the crop.”
Listen to Taylor’s full interview.
This was a message from the BeSure campaign brought to you by the Growing Matters Coalition, an initiative reminding farmers and applicators to follow stewardship best practices to protect pollinators and other wildlife. Visit growingmatters.org/besure for more information.