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Crop covers and their effect on honeybees

Crop covers are increasingly being used in horticulture as a physical safeguard against extreme weather, plant pests and pathogens.

But what happens if all-important pollinators like honeybees can't reach the crops they pollinate?

Honey bees are important for kiwifruit pollination, colonies are brought into orchards during flowering. Dr Brian Cutting, Plant & Food Research

Crops are covered with netting to enhance growing conditions, but honey bees can become disorientated in these environments. Dr Brian Cutting, Plant & Food Research

Dr. Lisa Evans of Plant & Food Research inspects a hive as part of an experiment to determine how covers affect bees. Dr Brian Cutting, Plant & Food Research

A frame of honey bees taken from within a hive. A bee on the right hand side has been fitted with an RFID tag. Dr Brian Cutting, Plant & Food Research

)Special tag readers fitted to hives recorded when foraging bees left the hive, and importantly, whether or not they found their way back home. Dr Lisa Evans, Plant & Food Research

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