BEE-STEWARD: A decision-support tool for land owners, managers and advisors to support pollinator populations on farmland

Bees are important pollinators of crops and wild flowers and, because they are totally reliant on nectar and pollen, they provide a proxy for the wider community of insect flower visitors that pollinate plants. There are many current initiatives aimed at improving the landscape to promote pollinator biodiversity, a key aim of the National Pollinator Strategy, but how do land managers predict which initiatives are likely to be most successful and thus make best use of often limited resources? In a collaborative project between Prof Juliet Osborne's team at the Environment and Sustainability Institute (Univ. Exeter in Cornwall) and partners [Natural England, the NFU (National Farmers Union), South Devon AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and Cornwall AONB] who are professionals in farming and environmentally sensitive land management, we will transform our latest systems models of bee colony dynamics into a decision-support software tool called BEE-STEWARD. It can be used to visualise how pollinator-friendly land management options might affect bee survival in any chosen landscape, thus aiding effective decision-making and resource allocation, and increasing the likelihood of land being managed to boost pollinators.

WHY IS IT NEEDED? Studies have shown that increasing flower-rich habitats increases foraging bee numbers: Countryside Stewardship options have been developed with this foundation. However, practitioners have highlighted that there is a still a notable gap in understanding how these initiatives affect bee populations, and a lack of tools to inform where to best place resources.

HOW WILL WE DO IT? To address the gap, we will develop the BEE-STEWARD tool to predict the relative value of adding forage to a mapped landscape by simulating bee colonies, and providing a comparison of population survival before and after implementation of changes. First, our partners will explain what they want from the tool to ensure the end product is fit for purpose and has a wide reach. With this blueprint, BEE-STEWARD will be created by integrating our current models: BEEHAVE (honeybees), BUMBLE-BEEHAVE (bumblebees) and BEE-SCOUT (landscape mapping model) with an interface that enables users to test land management scenarios. The user would upload their own maps which are then converted into maps of estimated nectar and pollen availability. The model then simulates how successful bees are likely to be in the mapped landscape, and simulates the effect of changes, such as planting flower mixtures or changing crops. We will work with the sectors below to disseminate the tool and ensure legacy.

WHO WILL USE IT? Whilst based on complex models of bee biology, BEE-STEWARD itself will be designed for users with no modelling experience. It will be freely available on the web, with a step-by-step guide for:

1) Individual farmers & landowners: it will provide a clear explanatory visualisation of how management scenarios may impact bees, over a range of time- and spatial scales. By building a community of Bee Stewards i.e. individuals prepared to test their ideas of environmental management in a virtual arena before putting into practice, then this will increase knowledge in the community, enable them to weigh up different options before spending money, and spread best practice, encouraging greater uptake of bee-friendly management options.

2) Land managers, advisors and policy makers: BEE-STEWARD will allow them to explore what pollinator options are likely to be most successful in the landscape, and where. A key aim is to integrate this with Natural England's advice to farmers on how to implement the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

3) The food retail sector: will be encouraged to devise incentives to encourage their suppliers to use the BEE-STEWARD tool, to boost market value of products based on their use of environmentally smart decision-making in favour of pollinators

OUTCOMES
By making BEE-STEWARD freely available and promoting it widely, the following outcomes are expected:
1) A "Bee-Steward" community: At least 30 key end-users who have used the BEE-STEWARD tool and will share their experience with others, stimulating the creation of a network of "bee-stewards" i.e. those using the tool to make informed choices, and boost the publicity campaign; ultimately resulting in improved environments for pollinators.
2) Enhancing policy and practice: BEE-STEWARD is considered a useful and workable decision-support tool by policy-makers & practitioners advising farmers on where and how to target resources for pollinator management, and it is made available via their websites and pollinator campaign material.
3) Embedding and scaling for farm-food-supply chain: At least 1 (ideally more) national or global company involved in supplying or selling farm produce across the UK are engaged in promoting the BEE-STEWARD tool to signify that their food has been produced with due consideration of farmland management options in support of pollinators.

BENEFITS/IMPACT:
The partners have been chosen to ensure we have broad and deep reach across those actually managing the land in the UK (NFU) through to those implementing environmental policy (Natural England). The longer term impact of BEE-STEWARD, beyond the project lifetime, will be that the use of BEE-STEWARD becomes integrated into future UK environmental management plans over next 5 years, and results in an increased rate of uptake of pollinator-friendly options by farmers, ultimately resulting in the UK farmed landscape having an increased carrying capacity for bees. This will improve crop and wild flower pollination. To achieve this we expect impact in four areas:

SOCIAL: Farmers and landowners who use the tool will have increased awareness of pollinators, and the management options that are likely to be beneficial to bees on their land. This awareness will result in greater confidence to make decisions on cropped and non-cropped land that could boost not only bee numbers, but also subsequent crop pollination bringing economic benefits through increased crop yields.

ENVIRONMENTAL: Agencies advising farmers will be able to make predictions on how to manage land over a larger scale to benefit wild bee populations, targeting resources to areas that are most likely to result in a positive impact, and spreading best practice. The S Devon AONB Letter of Support indicates how the tool will be sustained: "Spreading learning through our active farming, landowner and advisory projects should give the research great reach and a lasting legacy beyond the initial research"

POLICY: those making decision on how to implement the National Pollinator Strategy and develop policy on land management will be able to identify 'recipes for success' that provide the best possible environment for bee populations to thrive, using an evidence based approach to define what interventions provide the greatest gains, and in which areas. A key measure of successful impact will be Natural England using BEE-STEWARD in conjunction with their Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package calculator that aids farmers in the design of Countryside Stewardship Scheme applications.

ECONOMIC: Farmers and food suppliers can add market value or saleability of their produce by using the BEE-STEWARD tool to confirm the predicted relative pollinator-friendliness of their farm - possibly using a BeeSteward label which is recognised by the food retail sector. The likelihood of this impact target being achieved depends on stakeholder discussions during the project to confirm whether this scheme is a workable option.

The tool will be in our portfolio of bee models, strengthening the practical use of systems models to underpin environmental policy, practice & stewardship. We thus share NERC's vision "To place environmental science at the heart of responsible management of our planet".