Organic farming offers many benefits to pollinators but some common organic-approved pesticides and practices can be potentially just as harmful to bees and other pollinators as conventional farming systems.

For example, in the absence of readily available herbicides, some organic farms depend more heavily on tillage as a primary weed control strategy. This greater soil disturbance may be detrimental to ground-nesting bees.

By understanding native bee biology, nesting habits, and the toxicity of various organic-approved pesticides, farmers can effectively balance their crop management strategies with the needs of their resident pollinators.

To address this need, the Xerces Society has developed Organic Farming for Bees, a tool kit for organic growers that includes guidance on how to minimize disturbance to pollinators from farm activities, and on how to provide nest sites and foraging patches. In particular, two fact sheets provide information on toxicity to native pollinators for all major organic-approved insecticides and about pollinator-friendly organic farming practices. Both of these fact sheets are now available as downloadable pdf files:

Organic-approved pesticides: Minimizing risks to pollinators
An overview of all commonly available organic-approved pesticides, and suggestions for mitigating their impact on native bees.

Organic farming practices: Reducing harm to pollinators
Guidelines on how various organic farming practices can be balanced with the ecological needs of pollinators.

The full Organic Farming for Bees tool kit contains both of these fact sheets, as well as information about native bee biology, artificial nest management, and regional plant lists for pollinator habitat restoration. The companion publication Farming for Bees contains detailed guidance on identifying and creating pollinator habitat within a working agricultural landscape.

For additional information about protecting pollinating insects and providing habitat for them, visit the Pollinator Conservation Resource Center. The resource center includes a wealth of information and publications from a wide range of organizations. You’ll find detailed region-by-region guidance about choosing plants, providing nest sites, and managing habitat.

Pollinator conservation has a special relevance to organic farms. In 2009, the National Organic Standards Board ratified the Biodiversity Rule, requiring organic farms to incorporate wildlife conservation as part of their formal USDA-NOP certification process. Protecting native pollinators provides farmers with a mechanism for meeting that requirement while at the same time enhancing crop production.

The new USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Organic Initiative also makes this subject particularly timely, since several of the practice standards being offered in many states to transitioning growers through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) have a dual emphasis on pest management and pollinator conservation.

Support for the Organic Farming for Bees tool kit was generously provided by the Columbia Foundation, the Organic Farming Research Foundation, Organic Valley Family of Farms, the Turner Foundation, and Wild Farm Alliance.