Bee Friendly Farming: The role of bees in Australian food production systems

This FREE Webinar is hosted by The Wheen Bee Foundation.

Join Lea Hannah, Bee Friendly Farming Farm Technical Liaison Officer, Dr Romina Rader, Professor (Research) in Community Ecology , University of New England, Dr Cameron Spurr, Managing Director of seedPurity and Dr Julian Brown, University of Melbourne, Research Fellow in Urban Ecology School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences.  Bees play an important role in food production. Most of the crops we eat are pollinated by bees, with nearly two-thirds of Australia’s agricultural production benefiting from bee pollination. Bees also play important roles in seed production as well as the quality of fruit and vegetables.

Speaker #1 - Dr. Romina Rader – Importance of bees in Australian food productions systems.

Dr Romina Rader is a community ecologist and her research focuses on plant–animal interactions in natural and human-modified landscapes. She is interested generally in the ecology of plants and animals in different types of habitats and landscapes and how they respond to differing management practices and global change. Her current projects relate to wild and managed insect pollinators, their efficiency at pollinating horticultural crops and the ecology and conservation of remnant vegetation. For more information about Romina click here.

Speaker #2 - Dr. Cameron Spurr – Importance of bees in carrot seed production in Tasmania

Dr. Cameron Spurr is the Managing Director of seedPurity.  seedPurity is a leading provider of applied seed technology to the forestry and vegetable seed industries in Australia and New Zealand. Their experienced and enthusiastic team is committed to delivering quality service to their clients with over 50 years of combined experience in applied seed research and technology.  For more information about Cameron click here.

Speaker #3 Dr. Julian Brown – The Bees and the Berries – The importance of native bees in the pollination of raspberry and blackberry crops in the Yarra Valley of Victoria.

Dr Julian Brown is an an ecologist interested in the conservation and management of biodiversity and ecosystem services in human-modified systems. He works in agricultural landscapes, urban landscapes, and semi-natural landscapes managed with fire. Most of his work focuses on interactions between plants and pollinators as these provide model systems for understanding ecosystem services more generally.  For more information about Julian click here.

Link will be emailed to registered participants one day prior.

Bring your questions!