Apiculture is an essential component of agriculture, and bees (both commercially-managed and wild) play an important role in global food production and overall ecosystem health. Over the last several years, numerous scientific studies have identified the myriad of complex factors impacting bee health, but the multitude of these factors do not lend themselves to a single regulatory solution that will successfully address all of these variables across the diverse and robust agricultural community in all fifty states and four territories. NASDA members, individually and collectively, have been actively engaged in identifying the various stressors impacting bee health and more importantly, developing solutions known as State Managed Pollinator Protection Plans (MP3s). An MP3 is a set of recommendations or practices that facilitate a collaborative approach to implementing risk mitigation practices for beekeepers, growers, applicators, and other agricultural stakeholders that allow for the appropriate and necessary use of crop protection tools while promoting and protecting pollinator health. MP3s are tailored to the distinct and diverse agricultural operations in each respective state or region, and the MP3s in place have demonstrated success in reducing losses to bee production while allowing crop producers to retain and utilize important crop protection tools. MP3s ensure informed and workable solutions are developed and implemented through public-private partnerships at the state level to achieve sound policy initiatives, ensure our growers have access to appropriate crop protection tools, and help protect and promote pollinator health. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) represents the Commissioners, Secretaries, and Directors of the state departments of agriculture in all fifty states and four U.S. territories. State departments of agriculture are responsible for a wide range of programs including food safety, combating the spread of disease, and fostering the economic vitality of our rural communities. Conservation and environmental protection are also among our chief responsibilities. In forty-three states and Puerto Rico, the state department of agriculture is the lead state agency responsible for the regulation of pesticide use under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, and in forty-seven states the lead Apiary Inspector resides within the state department of agriculture.

State Managed Pollinator Protection Plans (MP3s): Common sense solutions to complex challenges

254th National Meeting (2017)

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