Towards sustainable crop pollination services : measures at field, farm and landscape scales

This publication shares practical measures at field, crop and landscape level in support of sustainable crop pollination services, including soil management for ground-nesting bees, and planning shade-tree cultivation to favour pollinators.Many of the ecosystem services provided by nature - such as nutrient cycling, pest regulation and pollination - directly contribute to agricultural production.

The healthy functioning of these ecosystem services ensures the sustainability of agriculture.

In agro-ecosystems, pollinators are essential for orchard, oilseed crop, horticultural and forage production, as well as the production of seed for many root and fibre crops.As the discipline of pollination ecology moves from describing the extent of a pollinator crisis to identifying what can be done about it, there is a need to share and highlight very practical measures that will support sustainable crop biotic pollination services.

Identifying these practices will require a mix of farmers' and natural historians' knowledge and research.