Photo credit: Steve Jurvetson

A new report released by The Organic Center, which covers results from over 70 peer reviewed studies, demonstrates that organic farming has an important role to play in supporting the health of our pollinators. Large-scale chemically intensive agricultural production has been implicated as a major source of threats to pollinators. Increasingly, scientific research demonstrates that the use of toxic synthetic pesticides, destruction of native habitat, and a decrease in nutritious forage due to extensive use of mono-cropping are detrimental to pollinators. A number of studies reviewed in this report have demonstrated that organic farming practices alleviate many threats to honey bees and that organic farms support significantly more pollinators than conventional farms.  This is because organic farming standards not only prohibit the use of synthetic pesticides, many of which are highly toxic to bees and can be persistent in the environment, but also require that organic producers manage their farms in a manner that fosters biodiversity and improves natural resources.