The concept: bees exit the hive through a bit of powder, and pick it up on their legs -- and then they pollinate.
Imagine a farm sprayed with pesticides. You're likely to think of crop-dusting biplanes, but a new pest-control idea is using a much smaller, and more natural source: bumblebees.
It's called bee vectoring.
Here's how it works: a tray filled with naturally-occurring fungal spores is attached to the exit hole of a bee hive.
"So when the bees actually go to leave the hive they walk through a bit of powder, they pick it up on their legs, and when they go to pollinate, as they do naturally, they drop a little bit of this inoculant off," said Ian Collinson, a project manager at Bee Vectoring Technologies, the Canadian company developing the concept.
Collinson said the process is completely organic -- and the bumblebee-carried fungus will protect crops like strawberries, blueberries, or apples -- leading to healthier plants and more targeted pesticide applications for farmers.
But what about the bees? Collinson said the spore amount dusting the insects is quite small.
"They do carry pollen already, right? So it's not like they're strained carrying this," Collinson said. "Do they like it? I mean, I haven't personally asked them. Haven't gotten a response. But they don't hate it. They still walk through it. As far as we can see, there's no reluctantly to leave through the powder."
"A lot of farmers are pretty progressive. They're looking for new solutions."
Ian Collinson
A 2011 literature review published in the journal Arthropod-Plant Interactions concluded the bee vectoring idea can work with no additional risks to humans, while increasing crop yields for farmers.
A spokesperson said Bee Vectoring Technologies' product should be available commercially this year. But the idea is still relatively new -- which means, Collinson said, it hasn't widely caught on among American farmers yet.
"Obviously, bumblebees are a little more of a new thing to use within their crops, because they've been so reliant on chemicals these past years," Collinson said. "But I find a lot of farmers are pretty progressive. They're looking for new solutions. They know that chemicals aren't sustainable and we're offering them a very sustainable approach that they can use year after year."
