B E E S P O K E
Increase levels of pollinators and crop pollination at local and landscape scales by providing land managers and policy makers with new expertise, tools and financial knowledge to create more sustainable and resilient agroecosystems.
In their June meeting, the Interreg North Sea Region Programme’s Steering Committee approved the project BEESPOKE. The overall objective of this transnational project is to increase levels of pollinators and crop pollination at local and landscape scales by providing land managers and policy makers with new expertise, tools and financial knowledge to create more sustainable and resilient agroecosystems. Insect pollination is worth €15 Billion in the EU but wild pollinators are declining because of loss in flower-rich habitats. In response the EU adopted a pollinator initiative in 2018. The NSR is one of the most productive agricultural areas but pollinators are in decline across the region.
With a total budget of EUR 4.8 million over a period of four years, BEESPOKE brings together a wide range of partners from policy makers, research institutes, advisory and end users from 7 NSR countries to develop new products and approaches to increase the diversity of insect pollinators and crop yields by 10%. We will develop bespoke seed mixes and habitat management guidelines to support the suite of pollinators required for 14 crop types across 74 demonstration sites. Sites for each crop will showcase best management practices and training materials will be developed for biodiversity monitoring and measuring pollination.
The same agroecosystems occur across the NSR and transnational cooperation will also give economies of scale for development of these novel tools. The approach will empower land managers to adopt pollinator management as a routine practice, fostering a bottom-up, land manager approach, creating a legacy to ensure continuing improvements for insect pollination of food crops.
The 17 project partners are: Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (UK), NIAB EMR (UK), University of Kent (UK), Universiteit Gent (BE), Vlaamse Landmaatschappij (BE), Inagro VZW (BE), Provincie Fryslân/Silence of the Bees (NL), Stichting Van Hall Larenstein (NL), Cruydt-Hoeck v.o.f. (NL), Coöperatieve vereniging Coöperatie Agrarisch Collectief Waadrâne U.A. (NL), Københavns Universitet (DK), HortiAdvice A/S (DK), Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet (SE), Kiviks Musteri AB (SE), NORSOK, Norwegian Centre for Organic Agriculture (NO), Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (DE), Grünlandzentrum Niedersachsen / Bremen e.V. (DE).
BEESPOKE is carried out in the framework of the Interreg North Sea Region Programme (www.northsearegion.eu) under the Programme Priority 3 “Sustainable North Sea Region” and the Specific Objective 3.2 “Develop new methods for the long-term sustainable management of North Sea ecosystems”. The programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union.
Insect pollination is worth €15 Billion in the EU but wild pollinators are declining because of loss in flower-rich habitats. In response the EU adopted a pollinator initiative in 2018. The NSR is one of the most productive agricultural areas but pollinators are in decline across the region. The overall objective is to increase levels of pollinators and crop pollination at local and landscape scales by providing land managers and policy makers with new expertise, tools and financial knowledge to create more sustainable and resilient agroecosystems.
BEESPOKE brings together a wide range of partners from policy makers, research institutes, advisory and end users from 6 NSR countries to develop new products and approaches to increase the diversity of insect pollinators and crop yields by 10%. We will develop bespoke seed mixes and habitat management guidelines to support the suite of pollinators required for 14 crop types across 72 demonstration sites. Sites for each crop will showcase best management practices and training materials will be developed for biodiversity monitoring and measuring pollination.
The same agroecosystems occur across the NSR and transnational cooperation will also give economies of scale for development of these novel tools. The approach will empower land managers to adopt pollinator management as a routine practice, fostering a bottom-up, land manager approach, creating a legacy to ensure continuing improvements for insect pollination of food crops.
Insect pollination is worth €15 Billion in the EU but wild pollinators are declining because of loss in flower-rich habitats. In response the EU adopted a pollinator initiative in 2018. The NSR is one of the most productive agricultural areas but pollinators are in decline across the region. The overall objective is to increase levels of pollinators and crop pollination at local and landscape scales by providing land managers and policy makers with new expertise, tools and financial knowledge to create more sustainable and resilient agroecosystems. BEESPOKE brings together a wide range of partners from policy makers, research institutes, advisory and end users from 6 NSR countries to develop new products and approaches to increase the diversity of insect pollinators and crop yields by 10%. We will develop bespoke seed mixes and habitat management guidelines to support the suite of pollinators required for 14 crop types across 72 demonstration sites. Sites for each crop will showcase best management practices and training materials will be developed for biodiversity monitoring and measuring pollination. The same agroecosystems occur across the NSR and transnational cooperation will also give economies of scale for development of these novel tools. The approach will empower land managers to adopt pollinator management as a routine practice, fostering a bottom-up, land manager approach, creating a legacy to ensure continuing improvements for insect pollination of food crops.
