pollination News
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Insect diversity improves crop pollination
The decline in numbers of wild bees has caused concern regarding falling levels of pollination for important agricultural crops. Researchers have now demonstrated that the diversity of the pollinator community can significantly affect pollination. Insect pollination is a vital ecosystem service; a large proportion of the human diet either directly or indirectly depends on animal-based ...
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Bee pollination improves crop quality as well as quantity
Bee pollination improves the shape, weight and shelf-life of strawberries, contributing a staggering €1.05 billion to the European strawberry market per year, new research suggests. By blocking bees from a set of plants, the researchers demonstrated the substantial effects of bee pollination on the quality of the fruit. It is well established that insect pollination increases the quantity ...
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Patches of flowers boost pollinator diversity and lead to higher crop yields
Falling levels of insect pollination are causing declining yields of important agricultural crops. However, new research from South Africa now indicates that planting small patches of native flowers in agricultural fields can be a profitable and sustainable method of increasing pollination and yield. Insect pollination is a vital ecosystem service as animal-pollinated crops form an essential ...
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Powerpollen Announces Commercial License Agreement With Bayer for Innovative Corn Seed Pollination Technology Designed to Increase Yield
PowerPollen® announced a commercial license agreement with Bayer designed to help corn seed production growers increase their yields. PowerPollen’s Pollination-on-Demand technology gives farmers greater flexibility by allowing them to optimize the timing of pollinations. By accessing the Iowa-based ag tech company’s first scalable pollination technology for corn seed, Bayer will ...
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Organic mulch lets insect pollinators do their job
As interest in organic agricultural and horticultural practices continues to grow, so does the need to identify alternative weed control practices. Mulching, a common practice used to control weeds and reduce the need for tillage, can also reduce insect pollinators' exposure to harmful pesticides; however, finding the right mulch materials that allow pollinators to flourish can be challenging. ...
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Bayer welcomes the U.S. National Pollinator Strategy as a concerted approach to improve pollinator health
Bayer welcomes the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators published by the U.S. President’s Pollinator Task Force on Tuesday, May 19, 2015. “Bees are important pollinators in modern and sustainable agriculture. The U.S. strategy to improve pollinator health is a reasoned and multi-faceted approach,” said Annette Schuermann, Head of the Bayer ...
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Method to differentiate open pollinated varieties of maize developed
Open pollinated varieties of maize are going to be easier to distinguish from each other, thanks to scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Africa and Mexico. They have developed a new technique to differentiate the genes of one open pollinated variety from another, particularly important to African farmers, most of whom do not plant hybrid varieties. The ...
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Partnering is key to improve bee health
The “Bayer’s Perspective on Innovation 2014” international press forum held in Leverkusen, Germany, was the venue for the launch of the company’s first bee health magazine, “BEENOW”. The magazine presents Bayer’s efforts to unite partners from around the world, including research institutes and universities, beekeepers, farmers and industry partners, to ...
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The bigger picture: GM contamination across the landscape
Ensuring the purity of conventional crops grown in the vicinity of genetically modified (GM) crops depends on understanding both short and long distance pollen flows. New research shows that current guidelines on the safe isolation distances for GM maize may not adequately prevent cross pollination of conventional crops. Contamination of conventional crops can occur where GM pollen ...
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Flexible management better for coexistence of GM and non-GM crops
Flexible measures, such as pollen barriers, for regulating the cultivation of GM and non-GM crops in the same landscape are more likely to encourage the adoption of GM technology by farmers than rigid measures, such as isolation distances, according to a recent study. The EU has recommended guidelines1 for developing national strategies by all Member States for the coexistence of genetically ...
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European bees are at their best health level in years as overwintering losses of colonies sink to record low
European bees are much healthier than many recent media publications appear to suggest. New field data from nearly 400,000 bee colonies from 21 countries in Europe and the Mediterranean show that overwintering losses of honey bee colonies – an important indicator of general bee health – were at their lowest level in years in 2013/2014. “It is great to see that our bees have ...
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North Florida farmers are using sesame as a rotation crop
In between seasons of corn, peanut, and cotton, North Florida farmers were interested in growing a rotation crop that could withstand the wilting heat of summer and be harvested by machine. So, since 2011, University of Florida researchers have been experimenting with growing the tiny seeds you find on top of hamburger buns or garnishing salads – sesame – as a viable, money-making ...
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Bayer CropScience Breaks Ground on North American Bee Care Center
As part of its continued commitment to honey bee health, today Bayer CropScience broke ground on its North American Bee Care Center, a recognition of the importance of these pollinators to agriculture. Senior company managers, bee health experts and representatives from the community were on hand to begin work on the new facility, approximately a 6,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building which ...
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Vineland Creating Opportunities with Okra
Coupled with growth in demand for local food and exotic vegetables, diversification can provide Ontario growers with profitable alternatives to conventional crops. According to Statistics Canada, over six million kilograms of okra are imported into Canada every year, yet domestic production is limited. The ability to develop local production systems to supply this emerging market can help promote ...
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Herbicide reduction can preserve crop yields as well as biodiversity benefits of weeds
Pesticide-sparing approaches to farming do not have to compromise on crop yields, new research suggests. A study that explored the impact of reduced herbicide use across a variety of different farming contexts found that herbicideefficient systems could be just as productive as conventional systems — and more so than organic systems — whilst having other important environmental ...
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Feeding a growing population that relies on ecosystem services (Part II of II)
The future of farming, food supply, and protection of natural resources are utterly interdependent. While all economic sectors depend to some degree on ecosystem services, agriculture has the most intimate relationship with nature. Agriculture depends on healthy ecosystems for services such as pollination for nearly 75% of the world’s crop species, freshwater, erosion control, and climate ...
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New research reveals challenges in genetically engineered crop regulatory process
Experts are available for interviews on this topic! A new innovation can completely reshape an industry-- inspiring both optimism and debate. The development of genetically engineered (GE) crops in the 1980's ignited a buzz in the agricultural community with the potential for higher crop yields and better nutritional content, along with the reduction of herbicide and pesticide use. GE crops ...
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Proactive stewardship is critical in sustainable agriculture
Bayer CropScience is committed to proactive stewardship to underline the company’s strong commitment to sustainable agriculture. “We help growers around the world produce high-quality and high-yielding crops,” said Matthias Haug, Head of SeedGrowth at Bayer CropScience. “We take product stewardship very seriously, as it is important to maximize the benefits of seed ...
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