EU CAP Network workshop ‘Promoting pollinator-friendly farming’ 

A call for expression of interest was launched on 5 February 2024. The call for participants is now closed.

The agenda outline is available below.

Background information

Insect pollinators, such as bees, hoverflies and butterflies, feed on flowers, transfer pollen, and help plants in the production of fruits and seeds. They provide a vital service to natural ecosystems and are essential to agricultural production. Around 80% of crops and wild-flowering plants depend on animal pollination, but pollinators have been declining mainly due to habitat loss, a lack of suitable habitats for hibernation and nesting, and a lack of food for caterpillars and larvae, due to intensive agriculture, pesticide use, and high fertiliser inputs. Climate change, invasive alien species, and other environmental pollutants such as biocides also contribute to this decline. Today, one in every three bee, butterfly, and hoverfly species is disappearing in the EU. There is an urgent need to increase the populations and diversity of pollinator species, to make our food system more resilient and productive.

In 2023, the European Commission revised the EU Pollinators Initiative to reverse the alarming decline of wild pollinators in Europe by 2030. The recently agreed Nature Restoration Law, a key element of the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the European Green Deal, is setting legal obligations for Member States to reverse the decline in pollinators and take measures to restore ecosystems, habitats and species across the EU, including on agricultural land.

Farmers can contribute to pollinator conservation through various practices such as: maintaining, enhancing, and creating landscape features; using crop types and varieties and crop mixtures that provide significant nectar and pollen sources; managing the composition and structure of field margins in a pollinator-friendly way; reducing the use of plant protection products where possible; and sowing green cover crops after the main harvest. The Commission published a guide to pollinator-friendly farming, which provides an overview of opportunities to help pollinators on farmland.

Main objective

In line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the EU Pollinators Initiative and the Nature Restoration Law under the European Green Deal, this EU CAP Network workshop aims to support sustainable agriculture by sharing innovative pollinator-friendly farming practices and systems that promote knowledge exchange and cooperation between different actors in this field.

Specific objectives

1. Improve understanding of the relationship between farming practices and pollinator conservation and restoration.
2. Exchange knowledge on innovative pollinator-friendly practices, including:
   
   • cultivating pollinator-friendly crop types and varieties;
   • promoting temporal and spatial diversification of crops;
   • maintaining and restoring diverse landscape features that match pollinator needs.
3. Identify challenges and opportunities, and explore potential solutions and innovative tools for pollinator conservation and promotion in Europe.
4. Examine the needs for capacity building, training, cooperation and education to enable the adoption of pollinator-friendly agricultural practices.
5. Identify needs from practice and possible knowledge gaps that may be filled by new research.
6. Promote networking among EIP-AGRI Operational Groups/other innovative projects, Horizon Europe multi-actor research projects and relevant stakeholders.

Main target groups

The workshop will target farmers, representatives from farmers’ associations and cooperatives or networks, and farm advisors. The workshop also welcomes researchers, public and managing entities/bodies, and any other innovators interested in sharing their knowledge on pollinator-friendly farming.

For any questions, please contact workshop.innovation@eucapnetwork.eu