To celebrate World Apple Day, we are taking a look at pollinators. Without these, our apple crop would be pretty sparse! Pollinators transfer pollen from flower to flower, helping to ensure sufficient cross-pollination, which gives rise to a better harvest of good quality fruit.
Pollinators, such as insects, birds, and bats, play a significant role in food production and, by extension, support our healthy eating. When we next go shopping for our fruit and vegetables, we could take a moment to pause and think about the hard work carried out by pollinators.
Some UK crops, such as cereals, are not dependent on pollinators, as they are pollinated by wind or through self-pollination. However, other crops, like fruit trees, are dependent on the help of pollinators. In fact, 75% of the world’s food crops are at least partially reliant on animal pollination for yield or quality and the annual value of pollinators to UK farming is around £1 billion.
The importance of insect pollinators
Insect pollinators specifically contribute over £600 million per year to the UK economy. These include:
- bees, not just honeybees but around 230 different species of wild bees in the UK
- butterflies
- some flies
They play a critical role in the stability and safety of our food systems, but their numbers are in decline, threatened by our intensive agricultural practices and climate change.
The decline in occupancy of 1km grid cells by bees and hoverflies in the UK from 1980 to 2012. Credit: Powney, GD, Carvell, C, Edwards, M et al. Widespread losses of pollinating insects in Britain. Nature Communications 10, 1018 (2019)
Artificially replacing insect pollination in the UK would cost around £1.9 billion, which is not a viable option.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded scientists at the University of Reading have researched insect pollinators to learn how to help their populations thrive. Their research has informed policy and industry practices, working towards increasing pollinator numbers and maintaining or enhancing our food production capabilities.
Wild insect pollinators
Wild insect pollinators are particularly at risk. They are the main pollinators for many of the UK’s insect-pollinated crops but are reliant on the surrounding landscape for nesting and food throughout the year. Without these resources, pollination services cannot be fulfilled as effectively.
Professor Simon Potts and Professor Mike Garratt at the University of Reading have been funded by BBSRC for over a decade. They have played an important role in highlighting the importance of wild insect pollinators to UK agriculture.
Significantly, Potts’ research fed into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ decision to include wild insects in their National Pollinator Strategy (NPS), launched in 2014. The NPS was a 10-year plan to improve pollinating insect populations in England.
All about apples
Credit: Lucy Ryan, iStock, via Getty Images Plus
Apples are one of the UK’s favourite and best-selling fruits, and most apple varieties are highly dependent on pollinators, primarily insects.
Researchers led by the Reading team have explored insect pollination in apple production in detail.
Wild insect pollinators bring over £70 million per year to UK apple production through their pollination services. However, this pollination is not perfect, resulting in yield and quality shortfalls. Garratt and his team found that deficits in pollination, averaging about £6,000 per hectare, exist in UK apple orchards.
Garratt identified an opportunity to address pollination deficits and counter pollinator decline by helping wild pollinators. Garratt and his colleagues showed that sowing wildflowers in orchards increased the abundance of insect pollinators, which led to 20% increased flower visitation by important insects like solitary bees.
This could help the full production potential of apple orchards to be realised. To support farmers in reaching this potential, the researchers developed a best practice guide for establishing and managing wildflower plots in orchards.
Making a real difference
Through long-term collaborations with major fruit suppliers to the UK’s supermarkets, AM Fresh (formerly Avalon Produce) and Worldwide Fruit, Garratt and Potts have translated their research into real-world change.
Worldwide Fruit has since worked with its UK growers, encouraging them to leave a portion of their land uncultivated to establish flower habitats for wild pollinators instead. 20% of growers have introduced these flower refuges for insects, and 90% of farmers are leaving at least 10% of their land uncropped. Avalon Produce has similarly shifted focus to enhancing the environment for pollinators.
Highlighting the role of wild pollinators
Nigel Jenner, Chief Technical Officer at AM Fresh, emphasised how the research highlighted the important role of wild pollinators and changed the way we think as an industry about pollination:
Thanks to research by the team from Reading, growers are now refocussing on the importance of pollinating insects in their orchards and paying particular attention to how they can enhance the environment to assist with this.
Noticeable increases in insect numbers
One grower, having established a 1 hectare wildflower plot on his 90 hectare farm, said:
As a result of these actions, I have seen a noticeable increase in bee numbers and types of both solitary and others. We have also seen an increase in butterflies and other insects. The general public have also greatly appreciated the side effects of this project and it is widely spoken about in my village.
Continuing to work with industry
The University of Reading team continues to work with industry, supporting Waitrose’s programme to convert all their farms to regenerative agriculture by 2035. The researchers are providing expert advice to farmers on improving their farming practices to support biodiversity and enhance pollination.
The far-reaching impacts of pollinator decline
Protecting pollinators is not just relevant to apples or the UK. Pollinator decline is a global issue affecting worldwide food production. Loss of pollinators would severely impact the variety of foods available to us, which helps to buffer against crop failure and support food security. Some of our most-loved foods would be at risk, too. Cocoa beans rely on pollination, so no pollinators means no chocolate!
Insect pollinators also contribute towards the production of non-food resources, such as:
- medicines
- textiles, such as cotton
- ingredients for cosmetic products
- biofuels
As such, major pollinator decline would impact a variety of sectors. Without intervention, we may even see pollinator decline visually, reflected in our natural environments through a decline in flowering plants and the animals that rely on them.
Protecting our pollinators through research, policy change and industry uptake of pollinator-friendly practices is therefore crucial to conserving the world as we know it and preparing for the future.