Push-pull pollination: a precision innovation for sustainable food production

Consumer demand for pollinator-dependent crops is increasing in the Nordic countries.

Growers thus require solutions to sustainably increase pollination services to crops, as well as to control pests in a pollinator-friendly manner.

One promising solution, therefore, is to enhance the efficiency of honeybees; both as pollinators, and as vectors of biocontrol agents to crops.The current project will work in partnership with national and international stakeholders (Swedish Board of Agriculture, growers associations, and extension services) to establish a novel precision system termed ‘push-pull pollination’.

Bioassays will seek to enhance honeybee foraging preferences for strawberry by applying both ‘push’ and ‘pull’ effects (based on a novel dietary conditioning approach, bee pheromones, and floral attractants). Participatory field trials will then follow with commercial growers.

These trials will quantify: 1) the extent to which this precision system may reduce resource inputs (i.e. managed pollinators and fungicides); and 2) what the resultant economic and environmental benefits are for growers and local biodiversity.Innovative push-pull systems for pollination, and bee-vectored biocontrol, could thus help growers to sustainably reduce yield gaps, increase profitability, and lessen impacts on biodiversity.

If validated, these systems would represent a breakthrough for precision agriculture, and could be developed for virtually any pollinator-dependant crop.