Spreading the Word on Pollinators
Supporting Pollinator Stewardship in Agriculture
In recent years, agriculture stakeholders including government, academia and industry have become increasingly aware of the need to work together to address challenges facing pollinators in and around farming areas. These challenges include parasites and diseases, stress associated with commercial pollination services and changes in agricultural landscapes and farming practices, including pesticide use.
Farmers face a complex and evolving regulatory environment, making it difficult to know where to begin. Valent works from the inside out to research, educate and share insight on pesticide stewardship practices that benefit pollinator health and help growers and applicators make informed management decisions.
Company Education
Through the creation of several internal groups over the past decade, Valent has taken steps to better understand, research and provide insight on pollinators.
In 2010, Valent created its first internal group called the Bee Team. The group reviewed scientific knowledge on pollinator health and Valent’s product labels to ensure compliance with EPA guidelines, educate employees and establish measures to prevent product misuse that could harm pollinators.
In 2015, Valent created its Stewardship Council, a cross-functional group of senior managers focused on educating employees and monitoring operations in accordance with stewardship principles, including:
- Ensuring employees understand pollinator protection, science and regulations
- Educating on best management practices to protect pollinators and their habitat
- Keeping stewardship top of mind during product development and launches
- Ensuring clarity and consistency across labels, technical documents and materials
Beyond internal education, Valent actively shares this information with growers, universities and industry partners to expand awareness and adoption of best practices.
“Valent is proactively attempting to fill some of the public education gaps as general knowledge on this subject is key to the sustainability of balanced discussions across growers, industry, regulators and consumers,” says Carlos Granadino.
Valent’s technical, regulatory and communications experts collaborate with university specialists and industry peers to extend the reach and impact of pollinator stewardship education.
Ensuring consistent communication from corporate teams to field representatives and growers is critical to ongoing education. “We place a high priority on making sure our products are used safely and correctly,” adds Granadino.
Fred Marmor, a Valent Field Market Development Specialist, reinforces this need. “Ag is continually changing, growers are planting earlier and earlier to capture the market and as production shifts we are seeing different pests. How we control and manage those pests needs to be re-considered each season.”
The Power of Partnerships
Valent’s relationship with pollinator groups began more than 15 years ago to bring diverse perspectives and solutions to pollinator health challenges.
One key partnership is with FieldWatch®, a web-based program and mobile app that connects growers, beekeepers and applicators to improve communication around pesticide applications and pollinator habitat. Growers and beekeepers can map and share crop and apiary locations as part of stewardship efforts. The addition of the BeeCheck® platform further enhances usability for beekeepers.
Valent also supports several organizations that promote pollinator health and product stewardship, including:
- North American Pollinator Protection Campaign
- Project Apis m.
- Growing Matters
- Coalition for Urban Rural Environmental Stewardship (CURES)
- The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance
Through continued education, partnerships and best practices, growers can support pollinator safety while maintaining productive agricultural operations. Growers are encouraged to connect with their Valent representative or these organizations for guidance tailored to their operations.