153 - Miles Dakin - Bee Friendly Farming

Andony Melathopoulos: [00:00:00] Frequent listeners of this podcast know that one of the key missions is to highlight and foreground people who are going an extra mile towards increasing the health of pollinators. And in this episode, I'm joined by BFF, The Bee Friendly Farming program by Pollinator Partnership. Now the BFF program certifies and sort of ties together a community of growers across the United States who are making that extra step towards increasing the health of pollinators. And those who are looking towards getting the skills and knowledge to be able to go two, three, four, five steps forward.

[00:00:37] In this episode I'm joined by the brand-new BFF coordinator at Pollinator Partnership, Miles Dakin, he has just started the job earlier this year. We're going to talk about some changes that have taken place in the BFF program, what the criteria for qualifying for BFF, and also some of the new categories. There are new ways to participate, you don't just have to be a [00:01:00] grower. There are other ways to get involved with supporting bee friendly farming. Hope you enjoyed this episode today, Miles Dakin on PolliNation.

[00:01:10] Okay. Well, welcome to PolliNation. We're really glad to have you on the show.

[00:01:14] Miles Dakin: [00:01:14] Oh, well, thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited!

[00:01:18] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:01:18] I was looking at the Pollinator Partnership website and saw somewhere that Bee Friendly Farming has been part of Pollinator Partnership since 2013. Just to start off what was the impetus behind getting a Bee Friendly Farming program off the ground? Where did it come from?

[00:01:37] Miles Dakin: [00:01:37] Yeah. So it was originally founded in 2008 by Kathy Kellison in Sonoma County, California. The program was founded in order to connect beekeepers to farmers who were practicing best management practices with bee health in mind. And so these beekeepers came to her because they wanted a place to [00:02:00] store their bees where they weren't going to be exposed to harmful pesticides and where they had good forage. So that was kind of why it was founded. And from there it has become this quite massive certification program. And we adopted it in 2013 to kind of help provide a little bit more structure to the program.

[00:02:22] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:02:22] Right, fantastic. That makes a lot of sense. I can understand that starting point because lots of beekeepers are always looking for places to put their bees and kind of the matchmaking is a great start to it. But as you said, the program has grown and you've got lots of farms that are really going an extra mile for bee health. Tell us a little bit about some of those BFF farms and some of the practices that they're doing that qualifies them as being kind of a trailblazer in pollinator health for farming.

[00:02:50] Miles Dakin: [00:02:50] Yeah, absolutely. The program has grown exponentially at this point and we have a lot of [00:03:00] different farmers involved. We have some really, really small farms, you know, a few acres that are mostly kind of local farms and maybe sell to farmer's markets. But then we have large almond producers in the central valley who are growing thousands and thousands of acres of almonds while also incorporating this amazing habitat.

[00:03:19] And we've been working really closely with the Almond Board of California over the last few months basically all of 2020. And they have become a great partner because, you know, there's a lot of potential to incorporate pollinator habitat and health into almonds. Many almond growers are already using cover crop, but some recent ones have been finding ways to incorporate permanent habitat into their new plantings.

[00:03:48] This has been amazing to see that sort of integration of habitat and agriculture into the same system. So they already have the drip irrigation lines. They already have the infrastructure to [00:04:00] support and manage that permanent habitat. And it's right there, right where it needs to be right next to their crop.

[00:04:05] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:04:05] Okay, so that's great. We've heard about this in the past, there's some almond growers who are putting cover crops in-between the rows and it helps the soil health, but also there's this forge for the bees there. But you're saying some almond growers are going an extra mile now and they're putting in like permanent fixtures, like a permanent something that's going to bloom perpetually over time.

[00:04:29] Miles Dakin: [00:04:29] Yeah and also provide permanent habitat nesting sites for the bees as well. We are starting to see that now, which is amazing. While at the same time, I should note that they are still practicing IPM, reducing sprays, unnecessary sprays so that habitat isn't getting pelted with a bunch of different chemicals - it's still a healthy environment for the bees to live in.

[00:04:54] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:04:54] Okay, great. So there's a nice combination of creating habitat, but also the pest management is very [00:05:00] focused, so that you have a real refuge in that landscape.

[00:05:06] Miles Dakin: [00:05:06] Exactly.

[00:05:08] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:05:08] Very cool. Well maybe tell us a little bit about some of the other practices that bee friendly farmers are inventing and coming up with and putting into operation on their farms.

[00:05:20] Miles Dakin: [00:05:20] Yeah, one really exciting story that we have that just went out on our newsletter today is about a farmer in Texas, Deb Terrell. She has a luffa farm it's about 14 acres and she calls it her experimental farm and she is experimenting with a lot of different plants. Primarily luffa, moringa and a few other plants that she's really trying to see how they attract pollinators and different ways that she can grow them. Different amounts and different types to attract and provide good habitat for pollinators, which is really amazing. And her story should be up on the pollinator blog.

[00:05:59] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:05:59] Let me get this straight. [00:06:00] So she is growing specific plants for pollinators. She's really kind of going that extra mile in terms of plant selection on the farm.

[00:06:10] Miles Dakin: [00:06:10] Yeah, absolutely. And she described how much time she spends at farmer's market, both talking about bee friendly farming, but also just learning what other farmers in her area are growing. Especially in such a harsh climate and in Texas, you know, they have long periods without any rain. And so having these plants that do well in that dearth, but still provide good habitat is something that she's really focusing on.

[00:06:38] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:06:38] I always love this about farmers who are interested in pollinators. They really have the skills and the tools to kind of do those very practical valuations. What works, what can fit into the system? It seems like a real common theme as soon as you have growers dedicate time and energy and equipment to some of these problems. Some magic [00:07:00] tends to come out!

[00:07:01] Miles Dakin: [00:07:01] And it's really exciting to us to see that and to hear these stories of like going to farmer's markets and just talking about bee friendly farming, and like getting this enthusiasm on a local level.

[00:07:13] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:07:13] Well that example, and I really love the example of going to the farmer's market meeting with other farmers and sort of sharing information. And I imagine something like BFF can be a real good clearing house for all that information of growers who are trying to crack the nut so speak of how to do bee friendly farming. Tell us a little bit about that dimension of farm and BFF.

[00:07:38] Miles Dakin: [00:07:38] Yeah. So that's kind of the next step for BFF is this to really get this network of bee friendly farming participants together. Not only to share their story, but also share this type of information. So, what plants are working, how are they doing this?  What are the implementation [00:08:00] ways that they're doing this management strategies?

[00:08:02] And also connecting the farmers with partners who are processors or let's say almond butter producers or stuff like that. So connecting these people together with similar mindsets, that's something that we're currently working on. Our BFF newsletter is a great way to get that information out and as well as our social media accounts as well.

[00:08:31] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:08:31] Fantastic, okay. Well maybe just tell us a little bit about what are the criteria for being certified? So let's say I'm a farmer in Oregon, I want to be certified as BFF. What are some of the things that I have to do to sort of meet the minimum criteria?

[00:08:47] Miles Dakin: [00:08:47] Yeah, I think it's important to note that we recently just sort of changed the program where we kind of subdivided it a little bit. In terms of the criteria that is specifically for bee friendly [00:09:00] farming certified. So that is targeting farmers, ranchers, wineries, anything that is a commercial land use operation, and they need to follow these criteria. The first one is they need to offer forage, that can include cover crops or permanent plants, but they need to offer forage for bees on at least 3% of their land.

[00:09:26] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:09:26] Okay.

[00:09:26] Miles Dakin: [00:09:26] It can be more, it can be cover crops and everything. It can be a 100%, but it needs to be at least 3%.

[00:09:32] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:09:32] What happens if you have like something like a big hedgerow or some huge trees? Do you just take the square footage of the trees? How do you figure that out?

[00:09:42] Miles Dakin: [00:09:42] Yeah, I mean, of course there's going to be bare ground areas and like rough calculations. We kind of pride ourselves in not being prescriptive about things. And a lot of it is about being on the farmers end, [00:10:00] them being really kind of precise, but also on top of their own kind of certification getting the information to us. So there's a little room for error but we like to start with the 3% and then kind of add these incremental changes. So, maybe the first year they're at 3%, but then the next year they are at 4%, and then 5% - you know, just kind of adding these things on.

[00:10:28] And it's important! We understand that putting in habitat is extremely challenging, especially when you're a fence to fence almond grower, and you don't have a lot of space. So we work with these growers closely, we help them out if they need it. And we can find areas to kind of add in, you know, a hedgerow maybe 500 feet of hedgerow over here and another two feet over there and sort of piece together areas.

[00:10:55] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:10:55] Okay, alright. So there's this [00:11:00] 3% minimum area devoted to sort of pollinator plantings of some habitat and as you point out it, it's very flexible to the farm. But really the aspiration is to take what you have and really kind of build it up over time.

[00:11:20] Miles Dakin: [00:11:20] Yeah. That's definitely one of our goals. It's going to be really challenging to make large changes quickly. So making these incremental changes over time is really what we're going for and what we think is possible and easily attainable.

[00:11:35] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:11:35] Okay, that's great. So, is that the only criteria?

[00:11:39] Miles Dakin: [00:11:39] No. So, that is kind of the first criteria that we really look at. Along with that is the bloom of those foraging plants, we really like it when it's targeting the growing season specifically. Especially in crops where there are commercial bees because those bees [00:12:00] just like everything need to have a complete diet.

[00:12:02] And so we want to offer them a variety of different forging flowers during bloom. We don't have a requirement on how much of the forage has to be up during bloom, but we really like that to kind of be the primary focus. And along with that we recognize that cover crops are commonly used and they are great foraging plants, but we still want to see growers put in permanent habitat. And that can be hedgerows, even just leaving bare ground in certain areas like along canals, those kinds of fairgrounds that are great nesting habitat for bees.

[00:12:42] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:12:42] Yeah. Cover crops are really great they can be a good component of a bee friendly farm, but you do need some undisturbed area. And also some of those other plants like perennials that really serve their own purposes. Cover crops only get you a [00:13:00] little bit of the way there.

[00:13:01] Miles Dakin: [00:13:01] Yeah, absolutely. And there's just so many benefits to having hedgerows beyond just pollinators as well. So they're great plants.

[00:13:10] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:13:10] You know, at the very beginning of that there was something I didn't quite get because I think you were breaking up a little bit. But it was this question of like when managed bees are in the area. Could you just repeat that part for our listeners again? So when managed bees are in the area, you sort of emphasize something.

[00:13:26] Miles Dakin: [00:13:26] Yeah. With the forage specifically, we want the bloom of the forage to line up with the bloom of the crop primarily if managed bees are being brought in.

[00:13:40] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:13:40] So it would be the case with the almonds where there's a more diverse pollen source coming into the colonies. When you have blooming, mustards and almonds at the same time.

[00:13:54] Miles Dakin: [00:13:54] Exactly. And there isn't really any good evidence to say that the bees are going to compete and they're not [00:14:00] going to pollinate almonds, they just need that extra forage. It helps them, and it will help support their hive throughout the entire season.

[00:14:07] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:14:07] Okay, got it. Alright. And so we've got that criteria, we've got sort of more specifications on the forage. Is there any other base criteria?

[00:14:17] Miles Dakin: [00:14:17] Yeah, a couple others, one is especially again in areas with managed bees offering some clean water sources that aren't full of fertilizers or other chemicals. Bees definitely, especially in these large kind of monocrop areas, it's important to have clean water. So, of course, as long as that isn't inhibited by government water restrictions or anything like that, clean water source is another criteria.

[00:14:48] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:14:48] Okay.

[00:14:49] Miles Dakin: [00:14:49] And then the last major criteria is, we want our members to practice IPM and they can read [00:15:00] into that as much as possible. But we really want to reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals. Especially during bloom. On our application there's a lot of different questions that we ask about that and we can provide some recommendations. We obviously understand that growers need to protect their crop as well, but just trying to reduce the exposure to bees of these potentially harmful chemicals is really important to us.

[00:15:32] And then the last two criteria are to pay the annual $45 certification fee. And every three years file a compliance form, which is essentially just a more detailed version of the application. We'd like to see pictures, we'd like to see farm maps, we really like to see that the habitat is doing well, and, being supported. [00:16:00] And those compliance forms are audited by our Bee Friendly Farming Task Force, which is made up of a bunch of different members from farmers, beekeepers, scientists.

[00:16:12] We audit those compliance forms and then a percentage of those get field visits by me. So I go out and meet with growers and see their habitat in person. Of course, with COVID restrictions in place it's a little bit more challenging. But getting out to just really kind of put a face to their plants as well.

[00:16:33] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:16:33] Fantastic! Well, let's take a quick break and I got a couple more questions I want to ask you about BFF and how people can get involved.

[00:16:39] Miles Dakin: [00:16:39] Sounds great.

[00:16:40] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:16:40] Hey, we are back and we were talking about the BFF program and sort of the criteria, and I guess we have lots of people who probably listening to this who want to get involved. And I guess you mentioned earlier that it's not just farms, there are multiple categories for getting involved. Can you tell us what [00:17:00] those categories are and who can get involved with BFF?

[00:17:05] Miles Dakin: [00:17:05] Yeah, I am really excited about these changes we just recently announced them. We realized that we had a lot of members but we wanted to be able to interact and recognize and support them. But in order to do this, we really needed to be able to differentiate them because they each had different goals and you know what they're trying to do with bee friendly farming certification.

[00:17:33] So we subdivided the program into three categories. There's bee friendly farming certified, which we've talked about for commercial land owners. There's bee friendly farming garden, which is for home and community members that have pollinator habitat and are following all the criteria, but they aren't a commercial entity.

[00:17:59] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:17:59] Okay.

[00:18:00] [00:18:00] Miles Dakin: [00:18:00] And then there's bee friendly farming partner, which is specifically for members commercial sponsors or apiarists that aren't actively managing their own habitat. We wanted people to be able to support the program. We already had sponsors but we wanted to be able to still recognize them and still interact with them and connect them to our network. But, they aren't necessarily having a habitat, they can have a habitat. They can apply for the other certifications as well if they want, but this is just a way to kind of recognize their support.

[00:18:34] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:18:34] Oh, so like a beekeeper! It's interesting because it kind of started out like you said back in 2008 as a matchmaking program for beekeepers. But a beekeeper who really likes the program and wants to encourage t this could become a BFF partner. They could put that on as a logo on their bee suit and away they go.

[00:18:54] Miles Dakin: [00:18:54] Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

[00:18:56] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:18:56] That's awesome, I love that and it's great. So if [00:19:00] we have a gardener in Oregon or a large community garden, or let's say a golf course, or somebody who really supports this, they can also apply.

[00:19:12] Miles Dakin: [00:19:12] Yes exactly. We basically kind of have it all figured out in terms of, well, we don't have it all figured out of course! But we have some really good resources on our website and it can help you kind of decide which category might be best for you as well.

[00:19:28] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:19:28] Okay. And so I guess the last question I have is like, how does somebody get involved? And let's say I'm making pickles in Yamhill County and I want to put a BFF logo on my cucumber pickles. Can I do that? So I guess first question is how do you get involved and how can you use the logo?

[00:19:50] Miles Dakin: [00:19:50] Yeah, absolutely. Well definitely if you're making pickles, definitely get involved, I love pickles. But the easiest way to get involved is to head [00:20:00] to beefriendlyfarming.org. Or pollinator.org and navigate to "Bee Friendly Farming." That's where all of our information is going to be, our applications and a lot of other useful resources, planting guides, et cetera. You can also email [email protected] or to me directly at [email protected]. Both of those emails go to me. But you can choose which one you want to use.

[00:20:28] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:20:28] Okay.

[00:20:30] Miles Dakin: [00:20:30] And then I want to note that we are, like I said, working with the Almond Board of California and they have launched a B + scholarship, it's specifically for almond growers. But it's a great way to get in with us because the program covers your first year of certification with us and a year of cover crops from project Apis m. Seeds for Bees program. And in order to do that, you need to go through the Almond [00:21:00] Board's CASP system and we've integrated our application with their CASP system. So if you qualify through that, you can directly apply for us as well.

[00:21:09] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:21:09] Oh, fantastic that's cool.

[00:21:11] Miles Dakin: [00:21:11] Yeah. In terms of logo use, it's included in the bee friendly farming certified and partner designation. We have examples of how the logo can be used on our website. Each one has their own unique logo that says what designation they're part of.

[00:21:29] And we have sort of guidelines to how to use them. You can use the logo on your products that were grown on the certified land or promotional material, website information. And you know we can work with different desires of how to use the logo. If you want to come to us and say, "I'd love to use the logo like this." We're totally happy to work on finding a good way to use the logo.

[00:21:55] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:21:55] Okay, go ahead.

[00:21:57] Miles Dakin: [00:21:57] I was just going to also add that bee friendly farming [00:22:00] garden doesn't include the logo use because it's not a commercial part of our certification. But we do have bee friendly farming signs that are available for all of the designated garden areas. So you can put that sign up in your garden if you would like to.

[00:22:16] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:22:16] Great. We get asked that all the time in Oregon, I'm really glad to hear that. And then in the process you're also supporting this larger program and getting more growers on board.

[00:22:28] Miles Dakin: [00:22:28] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:22:29] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:22:29] I guess my last question for you is, you're coming into this program and you're excited about it. Where do you really hope things will go in the next three years? What would be like a real source of success for you personally in terms of this program?

[00:22:46] Miles Dakin: [00:22:46] Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. I think sort of what I'm really excited about is like we were talking about, kind of building this network between bee friendly farmers and producers and [00:23:00] consumers. Building this kind of network and connecting people within the program, but also bringing in people from outside the program.

[00:23:06] I'm really excited to see where that goes over the next couple years. And then another one is getting these big players involved. So we've had a couple of big announcements recently about some big companies offering their sort of support and desire to head in this direction. And that's really great to see. And I think we're going to be seeing that over the next couple of years, even more and more!

[00:23:33] Andony Melathopoulos: [00:23:33] Fantastic. I'm really looking forward to this network coming together and it really would be exciting to see some large farms get on board, they manage a lot of land that can help a lot of bees. Fantastic! Well, thanks for taking your time to talk with us today and good luck in your new job. You sound like you had your work cut out for you!

[00:23:52] Miles Dakin: [00:23:52] Thank you. Definitely. It's a lot, but it's been great so far and I've been enjoying it. So thank you so much for having me.