Pollinators are important for growing insect-pollinated crops, fruit and vegetables; for the health of our environment and for the economy. 

Farmers recognise this importance; however, farmland has experienced wide-scale loss of wild pollinators over the last 50 years. In Ireland, we have just over 100 species of wild bee, and one-third of these are threatened with extinction.

There are many actions which can be implemented on farmland, to support and protect pollinators. These actions are often simple, low-cost actions which encourage you to ‘do less’ rather than to ‘do more’, providing nature space to do the work itself.

Native flowering hedgerows, field margins and non-farmed areas can provide pollinators with the food and resources they need to survive and thrive. In return, these important insects provide farmers with vital pollination services, ensuring good yields of crops and contributing to the farm’s productivity and resilience.

Protecting our pollinators is a challenge for everyone, not just farmers. However, farmers as stewards of the land, can become a leading force in making our island a place where pollinators can survive and thrive.

Take a look at the ‘Farmland: actions to help pollinators’ guideline, or click on one of the links in the menu to find other resources and information about our work with farmers. 

For a summary of how you can help pollinators on your farm, take a look at this short video.

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Coming Soon: Farmland Pollinator Tool

The Farmland Pollinator Tool is a scorecard which allows farmers to self-assess the pollinator-friendliness of their farmland, using an easy-to-interpret metric. The tool aims to promote the implementation of simple, low-cost actions which benefit pollinators on farmland.

The Farmland Pollinator Tool will be released in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out on these web pages for the release of the scorecard, and find out just how pollinator-friendly your farmland is!