The Great Sunflower Project
July 9th, 2008 | Filed under GeneralCase-Barlow Farm will be a participation site for "The Great Sunflower Project." The Hudson Garden Club presented Case-Barlow Farm with sunflower seeds to plant for the project.
Begun in the spring of 2008 by Gretchen LeBuhn, associate professor at San Francisco State University, The Great Sunflower Project is seeking the assistance of citizen scientists across the U.S. in planting sunflowers and then observing the number and variety of bees that buzz by them in a 30-minute time frame twice a month. When all the data is collected, San Francisco State University scientists will use the data to make a coast-to-coast pollination map, showing the population distribution of bees throughout the United States. Says Dr. Gretchen LeBuhn, "It is vital that we understand how bees and where bees are declining in order to start to help them. Having healthy pollinators is important for both natural systems and our food supply."
According to the website, www.greatsunflower.org, America's homes, schools, community gardens and those around the world produce roughly 15-20% of all the food Americans eat. And for the urban poor, who spend 50-70% of their income on food, these gardens are a real source of good nutrition and an essential route to food security.
Regardless of whether one's garden contains vegetables, fruit trees, flowers, or even medicinal plants, many of these plants must be pollinated before a fruit forms. And as headlines last year have indicated, bees are under threat. Little is known about bee activity in home and community gardens and their surrounding environments. With enough citizen scientists collecting data, much more can be learned about the current state of bee activity.
For more information about the project, contact Case-Barlow Farm.