§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will expand the use of the set-aside scheme so as to assist the bee industry by returning fallow land to a flower-rich environment by seeding with nectar and pollen-bearing plants.
§ Mr. RyderLand left fallow under the scheme must be kept in good agricultural condition. The detailed management rules forbid the use of insecticides and fungicides and require the establishment of a green cover crop (such as clover, which is particularly attractive to 435W bees). Farmers may sow conservation or wildflower mixes and are advised to consider doing so in the scheme literature. There is thus already ample opportunity under the scheme for the creation of set-aside land of conditions attractive to bees and other wildlife.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the monetary value to agriculture of British bees as pollinators.
§ Mr. RyderWe recognise that honey bees play a significant role in pollinating some major agricultural and horticultural crops, but is it not possible to put a monetary value on this because of other factors involved.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what his Department is doing to prevent the starvation of bees in the summer months in areas of intensive farming where pasture, woods and hedgerows have been eliminated as a source of nectar.
§ Mr. RyderFeeding of bees and similar matters of bee management are for individual beekeepers who can seek advice if necessary from the bee unit of the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service.
ADAS advice on conservation matters is generally freely available, and when giving commercial advice to farmers, advisers seek to achieve a reasonable balance between the interests of agriculture and conservation considerations. My Department also provides grant aid towards the cost of new hedge planting and farm woodlands.