E-mail: nass-ny@nass.usda.gov
(518) 457-5570

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:  Marisa Reuber
Monday, June 1, 2009

www.nass.usda.gov/ny

                   POLLINATION IN NEW YORK APPLE ORCHARDS

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office has
compiled results from the Apple Pollination Survey conducted for Cornell
University’s Department of Entomology.  The purpose was to assess the views
of growers about native bees as potentially important pollinators in apple
orchards.  Because of the concerns raised by Colony Collapse Disorder
(CCD), there is increasing interest in understanding the role of native
bees in agriculture.

The recent declines in honeybee populations due to CCD were considered a
threat to successful apple production by 59 percent of New York apple
growers responding to the survey.  In apple orchards with over 100 acres,
96 percent of growers always rented honeybees for apple pollination.
Conversely, in apple orchards with under 10 acres, 73 percent of growers
never rented honeybees for pollination.

Native bees were viewed by 85 percent of responding apple growers as
valuable pollinators in their apple orchards, and 68 percent of growers
would be willing to consider adopting low-cost land management practices to
increase the diversity and abundance of bees in their orchard.

New York is the second largest apple producing state in the US.  The
information in this release is available by free email subscription by
subscribing to New York reports at www.nass.usda.gov/ny.



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6-01-09