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Focus on Forage

Honey bees and other pollinators need a varied and nutritious diet. The Honey Bee Health Coalition promotes collaborative strategies and projects aimed at developing high-quality, bee-friendly landscapes that provide crucial honey bee nutrition.

Forage is about more than just the bees.  Bee forage can be incorporated into conservation practices that…

  • Creates forage for native and managed pollinators
  • Boost crop and honey yields
  • Capture carbon
  • Protect soil health
  • Creates wildlife habitat
  • Improve water quality by intercepting sediment
  • Provide integrated pest management by providing habitat for beneficial insects
  • Provide aesthetic enhancements on private and public lands

Honey Bee Health Coalition members are working on the ground and leading innovative efforts to create honey bee and pollinator forage. To learn more and get involved, check out the links below to Coalition member forage programs and initiatives.

  • The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund (Pheasants Forever, Project Apis m. and Browning’s Honey Co.)
    Identifies opportunities to establish critical pollinator habitat to help honey bee and monarch butterfly populations thrive.
  • Beekeepers Collaborating to Create Pollinator Habitat (Pollinator Stewardship Council)
    Ohio businesses are collaborating with Ohio beekeepers to provide pollinator habitat, encourage new beekeepers through 4-H, inspire other businesses and individuals to create pollinator habitat, and collect data of the habitat showing the benefit to pollinators.
  • Buzzing Gardens (Bees Matter)
    Provides Canadians with seed kits to support honey bee and pollinator forage across the country. The effort, which has been underway for several years, has provided residents with enough seed since its inception to plant 350,000 sq. ft (32,516 m2) of pollinator-friendly gardens.
  • Canola Loves Bees (Canola Council of Canada)
    Raises awareness about the role honey bees play in the canola industry and how canola farmers can support efficient and sustained honey bee forage.
  • Conservation Reserve Program Honey Bee Habitat Initiative (USDA)
    Establishes bee forage on private lands through Farm Bill programs; available in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
  • Conservation Reserve Program Pollinator Habitat (Practice CP-42) (USDA)
    Establishes pollinator forage on private lands through Farm Bill programs.
  • Cover Crop Math (Conservation Technology Information Center)
    A demonstration project investigating the capacity of marginal and cover cropped ground to function as habitat for honey bees.
  • Feed a Bee (Bayer CropScience)
    Planting forage in 50 states, with over two billion wildflowers planted in the past two years.
  • Habitat Tips (Pheasants Forever)
    This series provides information about topics ranging from pollinators to habitat management techniques and partnerships to habitat design considerations.
  • Living Acres (BASF)
    A research initiative that focuses on providing best practices to farmers who want to increase biodiversity alongside modern agricultural operations.
  • Million Pollinator Garden Challenge (American Seed Trade Association and other partners within the National Pollinator Garden Network)
    A campaign to register a million public and private gardens and landscapes to support pollinators.
  • Missourians for Monarchs (St. Louis Zoo and other partners)
    A collaborative committed to pollinator conservation.
  • Monarch Butterfly Commitment (Monsanto Company)
    Providing grants to a variety of non-profits, universities and researchers to improve and protect monarch habitat across North America.
  • Natural Resources Conservation Service Pollinator Programs (USDA)
    Provide private land conservation programs for pollinators through the Farm Bill.
  • Operation Pollinator (Syngenta)
    A global initiative that helps restore pollinators in agricultural, golf and other landscapes by creating essential habitats.
  • The PolliNation Project (Land O’Lakes, Inc.)
    An initiative to plant pollinator-friendly gardens in official business locations and the homes and farms of 10,000 employees and 4,331 members.
  • Propolis Projects (Levin Family Foundation)
    Engaging in a variety of forage establishment projects across Ohio, including at the Wright-Patterson Airforce Base
  • Pollinator Habitat on Mined Lands (Green Forests Work)
    Promoting the forest reclamation approach for pollinator habitat on mined lands.
  • Seeds for Bees (Project Apis m.)
    Project Apis m. is working to build a sustainable, healthy honey bee supply for pollination services in California while improving crop production.