West Gippsland and Westernport: Powerful pollinators Encouraging insect pollinators in farm landscapes

Pollinators are an essential component of agricultural production and of healthy, biodiverse landscapes. Protecting and enhancing pollinator resources on farms will help support a diverse range of pollinators. This brochure provides an introduction to encouraging insect pollinators on farms, including a guide to choosing that will support diverse pollinators throughout the year. The power of pollinators

Different animals — mostly insects, but also birds and mammals — help to transfer pollen between flowering plants, allowing the formation of seeds and fruit. Pollinators do this by visiting flowers in search of food (nectar, pollen or both) and transferring pollen from one flower to another in the process. In , honey bees, native bees and other native insects like hoverflies, wasps and butterflies provide essential © Andy & Anna Kelk pollination services for native plants, Native vegetation supports pollinators by providing food and nesting sites. Nearby crops and pastures, crops, fruits and vegetables. pastures will benefit from the increased abundance and diversity of pollinators in the landscape.

Pollinators and food security Insect populations are in decline Healthy ecosystems Without insect pollinators, the quantity worldwide due to land clearing, Pollinators are both essential to, and and diversity of food grown for humans intensive or monocultural depend upon, healthy ecosystems. in contemporary agricultural systems A growing human population and agriculture, pesticide use, would be severely restricted. Many increasing demand for food puts of the food crops we eat, as well as environmental pollution, colony pressure on ecosystems, while declining pasture and fodder crops, benefit from disease and climate change. ecosystem function will in turn pollination by insects. negatively impact food production. Low pollinator numbers mean Pollinator-dependent crops include not all flowers are pollinated, Insect pollinators are a prime example almonds, apples, blueberries and of this — without healthy ecosystems vegetables, as well as many crops leading to low fruit or seed set. and the presence of patches of grown for seed production , such as This in turn reduces crop and native vegetation to support insect canola. The quantity and diversity of pasture yields, farm profits populations, pollination will decline. insect pollinators are key drivers of This will threaten both crop productivity production as they influence both crop and ultimately food supply. and the persistence of native, yields and quality. Under-pollination pollinator-dependent flowering plants. results in smaller and misshapen fruit Pollinators require habitat — such as that is commercially unsaleable. diverse, native vegetation — that contains Grazing enterprises can also suffer year-round food sources and nesting from a reduction in the abundance or sites. The presence of pollinator habitat diversity of pollinators, due to the role close to food crops has been shown these insects play in the persistence to improve food production in adjacent of nitrogen-fixing pasture legumes crops by enabling a greater variety such as clover. and number of pollinators to persist year-round, providing pollination A diverse and healthy community of services to crops when required. pollinators generally provides more © Sustainable Farms effective and stable pollination than Under-pollination results in smaller, Turn to the centre of this brochure for relying on any single species. misshapen fruit such as this strawberry. a guide to planting for pollinators.

this period insect pollinators do not need pollen creating a ‘food desert’ where Diapause or diet? flowers. Birds and other small mammals will insect pollinators cannot survive. however continue to benefit from available W