Colorado Pollinators

Colorado does not depend as much on pollinators as other states do but they are still a very important part of the natural landscape according to Beth Conrey, President of the Colorado State Beekeepers Association.

CONREY: Pollination is part of more than just agriculture. It's part of the environment. So if we were to have not a single pollination event I think we'd all know it. It serves a whole bunch of other plants besides agriculture. Trees, flowers, etc. but honey production has a potential to be exceedingly good here.

But that said, they are seeing all the same problems as other beekeepers around the country and says the solution lies in a shotgun approach.

CONREY: It takes more than one single action to get things done. It's going to take a bunch of actions and those actions are going to have to include the planting of more forage whether it's on field edges, whether it's on highway margins, whether it's in urban deck pots whatever, that's a piece of it. People are going to have to reduce their pesticide use, that's a piece of it. And we're going to have to get some better management tools for varroa mite. That's another piece of it.

Conrey reminds people that there are a lot of other pollinators besides honey bees.

CONREY: Here in Colorado we've got 900 species of bees and they're all making a contribution to pollination of something.

And that's Colorado Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.