Growers need bees to pollinate crops, but how do they know how effective the process has been, or how different aspects, such as how the climatic conditions have affected the pollination process? Mostly they go on experience and knowledge built up over the years of growing crops and the expertise of the beekeepers.
This is changing as technology is developed to monitor the bee activity in the fields and orchards. BeeHero has been working on precision pollination solutions and building knowledge through the collection of data from sensors placed in the hives and in the field.
"We start by providing a service to the beekeepers where they can monitor the hives remotely. These hives can be hundreds of kilometres apart, so it saves the beekeepers a lot of time if they don't have to travel between the hives. They just have to log in to monitor the hive activity," said Clayton Hiskins, Australia's Regional Manager for BeeHero.
BeeHero has a network of beekeepers that they can distribute to growers to provide hives. Gateway
"We place sensors in the hives when they are in situ in the fields or orchards to monitor the strength of the hive. We monitor the acoustics, temperature, wind, and humidity information in the hive. These sensors communicate with our Gateway, which is like a modem that then transfers data via Bluetooth to the cloud for analysis. All of these aspects are important as they influence bee activity. The grower can then look at the pollination conditions and bee activity."
Pollination Insight Platform
Sensors are also placed in the field to monitor bee activity there, which gives growers valuable information about how many bees are actually pollinating the crop.
"Until now, it has not been possible to accurately monitor this activity; human counters can be used, but this information is very inconsistent. Our data is accurate and can be used by growers to get an early crop prediction of crop potential. We can also build data to generate a pattern of how often the bees visit certain areas. For example, with avocados, the flower opens first as a female ready to receive pollen and then closes to reopen as a male. So, it is important to understand when the bees are visiting to pollinate. Growers can see how many bees visited different parts of the field and the potential for pollination. This allows them to adjust the nutrition given to the plants or trees to maximise the crop and also to save money."
The number of sensors per hectare varies; this depends on the shape of the orchard and the crop. It could be one per hectare or one for every 30 hectares in tree crops.
"We can take the data produced and learn from it for the following years. We can also predict where there may be gaps in pollination and address them the following year."
Global Million Hives Network
BeeHero recently launched The Global Million Hives Network, the largest science-driven initiative of its kind dedicated to addressing bee population declines. By 2030, The Global Million Hives Network will create the most substantial database of bee behavior, empowering governments, researchers, and stakeholders worldwide in a global effort to monitor pollinator health, drive innovative solutions, and promote education and policies to create lasting change for bee welfare, food security, and agricultural sustainability.
BeeHero has been established for eight years and is active in many countries around the world, including New Zealand, Australia, the US, South Africa, Latin America, and Europe, and continues to expand globally. Crops currently pollinated by BeeHero include almonds, avocados, apples, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, macadamia, canola, as well as carrot and onion seed.
For more information:
Mike Katznelson
BeeHero
[email protected]