Be the bee, rethinking the pollenizer-pollinator model

During one of the sessions at last month’s Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention, attendees learned of efforts to develop a precision pollination system that could supplement, and someday perhaps replace, the need for natural pollinators like bees in agricultural settings. ~ Farmphotos.ca photo

By Luke Edwards

A Washington State University researcher sees opportunity in a new approach to a key step in agriculture that has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years.

By creating a pollen spray that can be applied to trees that require pollination, Matt Whiting says struggling bee and pollinator populations can be supported in the short term, and possibly replaced in the long term. Precision pollination could address range, transfer and viability challenges of traditional pollination systems.

“This (traditional) pollenizer-pollinator model is fraught with variability on both sides of the equation,” he said during a session at last month’s Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention.

Precision pollination requires three steps: collecting the pollen, suspending the pollen and then dispersing the pollen. The first step is relatively easy, but it’s steps two and three that have required some expertise.

Fortunately, Whiting has developed a liquid pollen suspension that can be applied by an electrostatic sprayer. Since so little pollen is required over a relatively large patch of land, putting it in the liquid suspension allows growers to disperse the pollen at an appropriate rate.

Using electrostatic spray aids the process by replicating the way nature uses electric charges to attract pollen to the stigma to increase fertilization.

While he calls the technology “crop agnostic” and potentially useful for any crop that requires pollination, he acknowledged it’s not required all the time.

“There are some situations where natural pollination was enough,” he said.

However, in tests, he said there have been yield increases of 23 and 27 per cent in cherries, and 48 per cent in apples.

And to prove artificial pollination sprays are effective, Whiting turned to a test that resembled a daytime talk show. What essentially amounted to a paternity test found that 25 per cent of the fruit in a sample came from the artificial spray.

Ongoing work to refine the process includes robotic pollinators that can identify flowers and target them for the spray, reducing waste and hopefully improving successful pollination rates.

Declining pollinator populations, namely bee colony collapses, have been cause for concern for growers who rely on pollination. Currently, Whiting is using his process to supplement the natural pollinators, but in the future he foresees a world where natural pollination isn’t required.

“The long term goal is replacement pollination,” he said.