USDA Agricultural Outlook forum | Track: Protecting Our Food Supply
March 2, 2015
Editor’s Note: On February 19-20, USDA held their 91st annual Agricultural Outlook Forum. This year’s theme was Smart Agriculture in the 21st Century: A Discussion on Innovation, Biotechnology, and Big Data. The “Protecting Our Food Supply” breakout session featured a panel discussion, “What’s the Buzz About Bees?” The following is a dsecription of the panel discussion with links to all three presentations.
From: USDA Agricultural Outlook forum
TRACK: PROTECTING OUR FOOD SUPPLY
What’s the Buzz About Bees?
Bees are by far the most important pollinators, from the plant and crop production point of view. The main reason is that they collect pollen to feed their young, unlike butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, etc. So they have to visit enough flowers to collect enough pollen to feed an entire nest, and they have evolved specially designed structures and hairs for this purpose. There are an estimated 3,700-4,000 species of bees native to North America, in addition to the more commonly known honeybee. With the rise of issues such as Colony Collapse Disorder, bee and pollinator health has become a crucial issue for agriculture.
Moderator: Robyn Rose, National Policy Manager, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA, Riverdale, MD
Bee Diversity & Habitat
Speaker: Sam Droege, Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, MD
Diseases & Pesticides Affecting Bee Health
Speaker: Rosalind James, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD
Bees on the Farm
Speaker: Gordon Wardell, Senior Bee Biologist, Paramount Farming Company, Bakersfield, CA
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