FRANKFORT, Ky. — The last two farm bills have contained language to authorize pollinator research programs, but it wasn’t until last year that a Presidential Memorandum authorized a White House Task Force co-chaired by the secretary of agriculture and the administrator of the EPA to take a definitive look at the issue of pollinator health.

Prior to passage of the 2008 farm bill, pollinators began to experience drastic losses – some beekeepers were losing as many as 40 percent of their bees. Kentucky State Apiarist Tammy Horn said until 2005 most commercial beekeepers (those with 200 or more hives) were reporting losses of around 10-15 percent – and in any other ag sector 15 percent is high.

“But in the years of 2006, 2007 and 2008, those losses jumped to 30 percent, and that became untenable,” she explained.

It wasn’t only domesticated honeybees being lost. Horn said it was also native pollinators such as native bees, bats and birds. Monarch butterfly populations also declined. She noted that Presidential Memorandum issued last year was basically the first federal initiative that directed an interagency task force to begin the process of coming up with goals to combat the issue from a national perspective.

“Those goals are to reduce honeybee colony losses back to 10 to 15 percent, increase butterfly numbers and increase pollinator habitats,” said Horn.

Last week the Pollinator Health Task Force released its National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. It addresses four themes, including “conducting research to understand, prevent and recover from pollinator losses; expanding public education programs and outreach; increasing and improving pollinator habitat; and developing public-private partnerships across all these activities.”

With pollinators so crucial to agriculture, the industry has been vocal in its support to find ways to remedy losses. According to information in the newly released report, “The attributed value of crops that are directly dependent on insect pollination was estimated at $15 billion in 2009 in the United States.”

The National Corn Growers Assoc. (NCGA) stated, in part, “NCGA applauded the Task Force for emphasizing the importance of public-private partnerships and called for continued discussion and collaboration between farmers, industry and government about how to ensure a healthy and robust population of honeybees and other pollinators.”

Don Glenn, chair of NCGA’s Production and Stewardship Action Team, said though corn does not rely on pollinators, the agency recognizes they are critical to the overall health and vitality of our agricultural system.

“The National Pollinator Health Strategy underscores that everyone – farmers, beekeepers, conservationists, industry and government – must work together to solve this challenge,” he said.

American Seed Trade Assoc. President and CEO Andrew W. LaVigne also weighed in, saying his group is heartened by the White House’s proactive approach. “Bees are vital in seed and agriculture production, as well as general ecosystem health, and ensuring their well-being is a priority,” he noted.

Horn said the strategy gives the White House Task Force a road map in achieving its goals. She also said most states are now offering their own plans to help alleviate the problem through such programs as Drift Watch, to help control pesticide drift during crucial pollination times.

“It’s in everybody’s best interest that the bees are healthy and that they’re protected from irresponsible pesticide spray drift and that kind of thing,” she explained.

She added she is not against pesticide or fungicide use; it’s about applying those chemicals at a time when harm to pollinators would not occur.

In listing more specific objectives, the strategy noted: “The overarching goals are to reduce overwintering honey bee colony mortality by 50 percent within 10 years, increase the eastern wintering population of the monarch butterfly to 225 million butterflies in five years and restore/enhance seven million acres of land for pollinators over the next five years through federal actions and public/private partnerships.”

To read the complete strategy, go to http://1.usa.gov/ 1IPtYyT