WASHINGTON,
Nov. 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/
-- General Mills, the Xerces Society, and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture announce a major milestone in their partnership to
restore and protect pollinator habitat across hundreds of thousands
of acres of farmland in North
America. The five-year, $4
million financial commitment between General Mills and
USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will support
farmers across the U.S. by providing technical assistance to plant
and protect pollinator habitat, such as native wildflower field
edges and flowering hedgerows.
Through 2021, this partnership will help to plant over
100,000 acres of pollinator habitat. Providing habitat in
agriculture landscapes has been shown to help a variety of
pollinators, including bumble bees, squash bees, honey bees and
butterflies, and provides benefits to crops that need insect
pollinators. Such habitat can also improve water quality, reduce
soil erosion and provide habitat for game and songbirds.
"Two-thirds of the continental United States is privately owned, making the
land management decisions of America's farmers, ranchers and forest
landowners essential to pollinator health," NRCS Chief Jason Weller said. "Agricultural producers can
make relatively simple tweaks on working lands that benefit bees,
butterflies and other pollinators while improving the operation as
a whole. NRCS offers more than three dozen conservation practices
that can benefit pollinators, and this partnership will enable us
to better plan and implement these practices."
In North America alone,
bees are responsible for over $25
billion in agricultural production each year.
In addition to improving the yield of many crop species,
research demonstrates that pollinators such as bees may also
improve the nutritional value and commercial quality of some
crops.
"Pollinators supply one-third of the food and beverages
that Americans consume," said Jerry Lynch, Chief Sustainability Officer at
General Mills. "As part of General Mills' global commitment to
treat the world with care, our investment will help pollinators to
continue to play a key role in sustainable food production in the
U.S."
To create and accelerate habitat restoration for
pollinators, this partnership will support six
Xerces/NRCS Pollinator Conservation Biologists jointly managed by
the NRCS and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the
largest and oldest pollinator conservation organization in the
world. This biologist team will support U.S. farmers by providing
individual consulting on habitat restoration and
pollinator-friendly farm management practices, evaluate habitat,
and serve as advisors to other conservation agency staff in the
regions they serve. The biologists will be based in California, Nebraska, North
Dakota, Minnesota,
Iowa and Maine.
"To date, our work with NRCS has resulted in hundreds of
thousands of acres of new or improved habitat," said Scott Hoffman Black, Executive Director of the
Xerces Society. "This partnership will allow us to expand
conservation support in the Midwest, Northeast and California, reaching many more farmers and
bringing greater benefits to the pollinators on which we all
rely."
For more information about pollinator conservation and to
get involved, visit www.xerces.org
or
www.nrcs.usda.gov/pollinators.
About The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural
Resources Conservation Service
Since 2009, USDA
has invested more than $29 billion to
help producers make conservation improvements, working with a
record 500,000 farmers, ranchers and landowners to protect land and
water on over 400 million acres nationwide. For an interactive look
at USDA's work in conservation and forestry over the course of this
Administration, visit USDA Results: Caring for
our Air, Land and Water.
About the Xerces Society for Invertebrate
Conservation
The non-profit Xerces Society has
been protecting the life that sustains us since 1971. In the past
decade, Xerces has built the world's largest pollinator
conservation team. With 15 pollinator conservation
specialists working closely with state and federal
agencies—including 4 joint positions with the NRCS—as well as
one-on-one with growers, the Society's work has resulted in the
creation or enhancement of over 400,000 acres of pollinator habitat
and the training of more than 70,000 farmers and other agricultural
professionals. To learn more about the Society's work, please
visit www.xerces.org.
About General Mills
General Mills
is a leading global food company that serves the world by making
food people love. Its brands include Cheerios, Annie's,
Yoplait, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso,
Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and
more. Headquartered in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, USA, General Mills had fiscal 2016 worldwide
sales of US $17.6 billion, including
the company's US $1.0 billion
proportionate share of joint-venture net sales. For
more information about General Mills, visit
www.generalmills.com.
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SOURCE General Mills