Wild Farm Alliance

There are simple to complex steps that farmers can take to support pollinator insects on the farm. It can be simple as leaving shallow puddles of water for insects to get a drink or as complex as installing a native plant hedgerow. Learn more from our Biodiversity Continuum Chart! www.wildfarmalliance.org/biodiversity_continuum

Join The Xerces Society for their Pollinator Happy Hour Q&A tomorrow, June 23rd, with a panel of Xerces Society pollinator conservation experts! During their Q&A, you'll have the opportunity to directly ask Xerces staff about anything and everything related to pollinator conservation, native habitat restoration, pesticide use and impacts, climate change resilience, and more. It’ll livestream on their Facebook page, but you can also join via Zoom. ... Click on the link below to register on Zoom (or just see a list of who’ll be on the panel).

Happy National Pollinator Week! If you are looking for a fun way to celebrate and work to protect pollinators this week, go bumble bee watching! Bumble bees can be found nearly everywhere buzzing from one flower to another doing the important work of pollination. @bumblebeewatch.org is a collaboration among several groups working to protect and preserve Bumble Bees! Get your camera and possibly help find rare species before they go extinct. Participating in Bumble Bee Watch is simple. Once you have an account, go out and check your garden, in parks, or any other natural areas you frequent for bumble bees. Be sure to snap a photo and then sign in and submit your data via the Bumble Bee Sightings form. Have fun while learning more about bumble bees and the vital role they play in our environment!

Want to learn more about how to assess biodiversity for supporting climate resilience? Using WFA's Biodiversity Continuum, we put together a short webinar that helps farmers to assess biodiversity for support of climate adaptation and mitigation. Farmers can use resilience indicators to prioritize the changes they need to make in order to remain viable in the face of climate change. https://youtu.be/zBxtwEL7bIE

Learn how to identify some common insects that prey on garden pests from Oregon State University. Using this handy pocket guide you can see predatory insects look like at various life stages and learn how to encourage beneficial insects. Print this pocket guide on letter-size paper and cut pages as indicated to make a booklet.... https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/ec1613

California farmers, the deadline for CSP is March 26th! Learn more and get your application in.

Ever wonder what you can do on your farm to support birds and benefit from their amazing pest control services? Attend our FREE virtual field day at Blue Heron Farms! Join farmers, avian ecologists, researchers and conservationists virtually for a discussion on practices that support beneficial birds and manage pest birds. ... https://www.wildfarmalliance.org/blue_heron_farm_virtual

"The administration has promised to make agriculture a cornerstone of its ambitious climate agenda, looking to farmers to take up farming methods that could keep planet-warming carbon dioxide locked in the soil and out of the atmosphere. At the same time, President Biden has pledged to tackle a legacy of discrimination that has driven generations of Black Americans from their farms, with steps to improve Black and other minority farmers’ access to land, loans and other assistance, including 'climate smart' production. "Farms run by African Americans make up less than 2 percent of all of the nation’s farms today, down from 14 percent in 1920, because of decades of racial violence and unfair lending and land ownership policies."

Dru Rivers of Full Belly Farm and Dr. Olivia Smith of UGA tout the benefits of providing habitat throughout the farm to encourage #beneficialbirds and to keep #foodsafety issues in check. The farm has hedgerows and riparian buffers throughout their fields that allow beneficial birds to thrive while at the same time benefiting from their #pestcontrolservices. Watch a new video about Full Belly Farm! #supportbirdsonthefarm #farmingwiththewild #bringingnaturebacktofarms #wildfarming

Are you at #EcoFarm2021? Learning so much from EcoFarm Successful Farmers presentations.