Honeybees get to work
A lack of flowering plants and pollen has left honeybees in France going hungry through the key months of June to August. This is when they should be laying down crucial food reserves for the winter – and commercial honey stocks for beekeepers. There are an estimated 1.35 million beehives and nearly 70,000 beekeepers across France.
Following a decline in honey productivity, a new project was instigated in 2003 to investigate pollen and nectar sources on arable farms and to create a series of measures to redress the shortfall. Initial pollen collections the farms selected for Réseau Agéris ( an environmental audit to identify risks of water pollution) demonstrated the existing common practice open-field arable system was proving inadequate for beekeeping.
Now, working with local beekeepers and experts, the project has recognized that the simple enrichment of non-crop set-aside areas with flowering food resources can fulfill the bee’s needs. The set aside areas included sainfoin, mustard, buckwheat, and Phacelia. They were complemented by field margins sown with grasses and clover and hedges were planted including rose species. Just 0.3 hectare of flowering set aside was quickly found by worker bees and provided sufficient supplement for hives installed on a 200ha farm.
Training for farmers and advisors on the demonstration farms – which have doubled in number since the project’s start – includes environmental management to enhance and improve biodiversity, along with safe use of plant products to mitigate risk to foraging bees.
Farming the land to provide the 30 to 50kg of pollen required for each colony, along with 100kg of nectar for honey production, creates healthier hives more able to cope with disease and harsh winters, as well as more productive hives for the beekeepers.
