A new review article, published in Landscape Ecology, gets inspiration from the AGRI4POL project to examine how crop diversification can contribute to pollinator conservation in intensive agricultural systems.

Published on 11 January 2025, the article titled "Crop diversification for pollinator conservation" has been written in preparation for the AGRI4POL project, one of the authors is AGRI4POL's Thijs Fijen of Wageningen University & Research. He is involved in Work Package 3, "Management options to enhance pollinator benefits on farms". 

The review brings together evidence from Western Europe, North America, and other regions to assess how increasing the spatial and temporal diversity of crops may benefit pollinators. Practices such as intercropping, using sequentially flowering cultivars, integrating forgotten or woody crops, and reducing field sizes were found to increase floral resource availability and enhance landscape heterogeneity.

The authors highlight that various crop diversification measures show potential for supporting pollinating insects without taking land out of production. However, they also note limitations: only a subset of pollinator species may benefit, and while current evidence is encouraging, further landscape-wide studies are required to properly evaluate the true potential of diversification as part of wider efforts to bend the curve of pollinator decline. This is where AGRI4POL’s contribution becomes highly relevant, as it aims to assist the transition of agriculture from being a pressure on pollinators to becoming a positive force for managing and restoring pollinator biodiversity, crop pollination services, and co-benefits to ecosystems and people.

Read the full article here.