Bee Biodiversity Critical for Crops
Posted on August 9th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Bees are among North America’s most important agricultural asset, increasing yields in roughly three-quarters of our crops. But as researchers funded by the National Science Foundation are learning, plants need a diversity of pollinators – and everyday gardeners can help.
Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on Bee Biodiversity Critical for Crops
Tags: agriculture, bees, crops, ecology, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, farming, National Science Foundation, NSF, pollinators, Rachael Winree, Research, Rutgers
Students in grades 3 to 5 learn about the engineering design process by making a 2-dimensional model (graphic illustration) of an apparatus that will pollinate a field.
Students in grades 6 to 8 explore food production problems related to population growth and then engineer a model vertical farm as a potential solution in a fictional community, Greentown, culminating with a presentation to the imaginary city’s “legislators.” 
As one of the worst droughts in decades continues to shrivel reservoirs and sear fields, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated more than half of all counties – 1,584 in 32 states – primary disaster areas this growing season. While the dry, hot spell has decimated agriculture, it also has strained the steel, asphalt, and other engineered parts of the nation’s infrastructure.
