Trees for Bees Research Trust

Trees for Bees is a New Zealand-based not for profit organisation focused on keeping our pollinators happy and healthy. Bees are under threat worldwide, are a crucial part of our ecosystem and are vital for plant life and food production. The New Zealand Trees for Bees Research Trust was incorporated on February 14, 2019 and registered as a charitable trust on March 14, 2019. The formation of the Trust provides legal standing for our research and outreach, and a platform for further extending our work at the community level. A key advantage for all donors is that donations and co-funding are now tax deductible.

The Trees for Bees NZ programme exists to research the value of candidate bee forage plants and create templates for beekeepers and landowners to design and install strategic plantations of bee forage that will maximise bee health and survival. These bee forage plants can be used in whatever other on-farm planting you are undertaking – shelter, riparian, land stabilisation, farm amenity – and include both native and exotic species. Our work to date has been through a series of MPI Sustainable Farming Fund projects, dating back to 2009 with the Federated Farmers Bee Industry Group and following on with the Bee Friendly Farming Group from 2010.

The Trees for Bees NZ Research Trust was formed in 2019 to continue this work and has recently secured SFF funding for 2019-22 to focus on building bee capacity for sustainable growth. This new project will build on our research on floral forage resources that meet bee protein, fat and trace element requirements at the right time and in sufficient quantity, and farm-based planting templates that enable apiarists and landowners to ensure year-round bee forage supplies. This project will build bee capacity in New Zealand by (1) training people to plant balanced bee forage, (2) enabling nurseries to supply more bee plants, and (3) providing tools to design multi-purpose bee plantations.