Flower strips benefit bees and bring a boost to yields

I watched the recent BBC Horizon report by Bill Turnbull. What was of particular interest was research by the University of Reading which showed that managing margins for the benefit of bees potentially carries a significant benefit for the crops they surround in terms of yield and performance.

Key to this is good pollination, for which there is no better substitute than the bee. Flower margins provide an attractive patchwork of foraging habitat.

The Government is launching an "urgent and comprehensive" review of why bees are declining and what is being done to help them. In the period 1985 to 2005 there has been a 50 per cent reduction in productive honey beehives and a general decline in bee population over the last 70 years. The review is to consider current policies, evidence on what is happening to bees and other pollinators and what action charities and businesses are taking to help stop the decline.

The Government has come under fire for opposing European moves to ban neonicotinoid pesticides which research has suggested is linked to declines in the bee population, but Environment Minister Lord de Mauley has also said bees would be vulnerable with or without restrictions on insecticides, while pointing out that changes in land use, the type of crops grown, alien species climate change and pesticide use all have an impact. However, the relative importance of these factors and their interactions is not understood.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust cites modern agricultural technology and demand for increased food production which has seen agricultural practices abandoned in favour of techniques which increase productivity but ultimately reduce the abundance of wildflowers in the countryside.

It has been estimated that we have lost 97 per cent of our flower-rich grassland since the 1930s.

While habitat may only be part of the problem, farmers and land managers are well placed to help stop the decline in bee population. Land managers can plan some provision into cropping plans for the coming season.

Establishing margins and managing field boundaries to provide pollen and nectar-rich flowers will provide bees with a continuous supply of food with high-quality pollen which they can only get from certain plants – particularly clovers, vetches and trefoils. Strips, difficult field corners or areas of flower-rich grassland provide highly important habitat.

Using agri-environmental schemes can support the cost of installing these areas.

In return managing for bees provides pollinators for arable and horticultural crops, with good pollination providing better yields and quality of produce.

The research at Reading University has shown that flower strips increased solitary bee numbers by a third and bumblebee population five-fold, while potted plants in flower strips produced double the seeds compared with those placed in plain grass strips.

* Mark Morison is a rural property specialist and partner at Roger Parry and Partners LLP