Flower declines mirrors bee drop
IN YEARS gone by, it was par for the course for farmers to leave swathes of land fallow to improve productivity. But as the effectiveness of fertilizer rose '“ and more recently, EU set-aside payments ended '“ the practice dramatically reduced.
Now a researcher from the University of Leeds says bringing back the practice could be key to halting the decline in the numbers of bees and other pollinating insects – by encouraging the growth of wild flowers.
Professor Bill Kunin, from the university’s faculty of Biological Sciences, worked with the University of Bristol on the first ever Britain-wide assessment of the value of wild flowers as food for pollinators.