A forum on native pollinators

Washington Ag February 25, 2009 The disappearance of honey bees and the decline of bee colonies, so called colony collapse disorder, is still a major issue. There is still a lot of debate about possible causes and cures. Noe: “And I think we are making some headway there.� That is Alan Noe, vice president of the CropLife Foundation, which along with the group Native Pollinators in Agriculture, has been holding a forum just outside Washington D.C. this week on the whole problem. Noe: “We are bringing in researchers, academics, government folks, industry folks, beekeepers, etc., to really exchange information, to look at what research is out there, to try and get a fix on this precisely.� And that is important to Noe because CropLife represents the pesticide industry. Pesticides have been named as one of the many possible causes of colony collapse disorder. The Native Pollinators in Agriculture Work Group estimates that 15 percent of the combined U.S. fruit, nut, vegetable and field crop production can be attributed to pollination services provided by native insects and animals. Wheat growers should be aware of a label change for Beyond herbicide, most notably the rotation interval to wheat. The previous rotation was three months. Now if you are in the under 16 inch precipitation zone or your pH is less than 6.2, the rotation interval is 15 months. If you are in a precipitation zone greater than 16 inches and pH is greater than 6.2 the interval is still three months. If a field is moldboard plowed there is a three month rotation regardless of precip of pH. And of course a Clearfield wheat can be planted anytime. I’m Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.