Operation Pollinator

Operation Pollinator is an international biodiversity initiative focused on research and partnerships to promote the health and well-being of bees and other pollinators given their essential role in agriculture and nature.

For over 15 years, Operation Pollinator has created essential habitat in field margins or on fallow land on commercial farms or golf courses, providing nesting and food resources for bees, pollinators, beneficial insects, as well as for small mammals and farmland birds, enhancing overall biodiversity. Through Operation Pollinator, farmers, golf course superintendents and land managers strengthen the environment through a sustainable approach to biodiversity.

This short video demonstrates how Operation Pollinator has created essential habitats in field margins on farms or golf courses in Canada.

Operation Pollinator On-Farm

The on-farm component of Operation Pollinator is focused on enhancing biodiversity on the farm, providing participants the opportunity to redirect land considered to be lower in productivity to the establishment of pollinator-friendly habitats for bees and other insects. Operation Pollinator sites provide critical habitat to pollinators, improving biodiversity and soil health.

For example, in a program running between 2017 - 2019, we provided the tools and agronomic advice to create essential habitats on 181 on-farm sites across Canada in collaboration with the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) and provincial delivery partners. In 2021 and 2022, Operation Pollinator expanded its footprint in Prince Edward Island through a partnership with the PEI Potato Board.

Whether you're interested in creating a habitat or want more information on the program we're here to help. Send us your contact information and we'll be in touch.

Why get involved?
Why get involved?

How it works

Field of flowers and plants beside a golf course.

Operation Pollinator Golf

Golf courses provide great potential to create essential habitats and food sources for a range of native bees and pollinating insects.

Brantford Golf & Country Club and Cutten Fields were the first two Canadian golf courses to work with Syngenta to transform out-of-play areas into improved habitats for bees and other pollinators. Research has demonstrated that Operation Pollinator plots can result in an increase in overall abundance and diversity of butterfly and bee species.

As of September 2019, there were over 70 Operation Pollinator golf sites supported across Canada.

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Why get involved?

Wildflowers provide a colourful visual enhancement for golf courses, particularly with native species selected to fit into the local environment. Operation Pollinator seed mix aims to provide a succession of flowering plants that provides a continual source of pollen and nectar for pollinators as well as an ever-changing visual for players.

See our four-page document titled "Why Get Involved?"
How it works

Syngenta will provide participating golf courses with a custom-blended seed mix of native wildflowers to establish Operation Pollinator areas. Golf courses can use this seed and other management practices to create pollen and nectar-rich habitats in out-of-play areas.
Resources
What's in the Operation Pollinator seed mix for Eastern Canada? What's in the Operation Pollinator seed mix for Western Canada?

Operation Pollinator research,
education and outreach

The mandate of Operation Pollinator is to support activities that enhance biodiversity, habitat, and other initiatives that contribute to healthy pollinator populations.

This includes working with interested parties who support learning and education about the role pollinators play in creating healthy ecosystems and a sustainable food supply, and supporting research partnerships to promote the health of bees and other pollinators.

For example, Syngenta and Dalhousie University, together with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, partnered on an innovative research project to increase bee populations and blueberry yields in the Maritime Provinces.

Investing in communities

Since 2014, Syngenta Canada has partnered with 4-H Canada through the Operation Pollinator program to support the Proud to Bee a 4-H'er initiative. Participating 4-H clubs create and support the establishment of habitats using Proud to Bee a 4-H'er pollinator-friendly seed mix by planting and tending pollinator-friendly gardens. These activities encourage 4-H members to learn all about the amazing and fascinating work of bees, and to get outside and enjoy nature. To date, Proud to Bee a 4-H’er has distributed more than 150,000 pollinator-friendly seed packets to 4-H clubs and communities across Canada. The Proud to Bee a 4-H’er initiative has proven to be an incredible way to engage all Canadians in conversations about sustainable food, the environment, and the agricultural sector.

Feeding the food chain

Expand the resource below to learn about enhancing the health of pollinators across Canada.