Clients and Partners
Hort Innovation
DPIRD – West Australia
University of New England
Seed Purity
Project Duration
2018 – 2024
While honeybees are the main managed pollinators of crops, they are not a good option in some cases, including glasshouses. It’s also risky to rely heavily on one pollinator species, particularly one susceptible to a range of pests and diseases. Alternative managed pollinators are therefore of great interest, and flies offer some great possibilities. For example, hoverflies are famous flower visitors and can pollinate a wide range of crops and wild plants.
This project is exploring the use of hoverflies and blowflies as managed pollinators of glasshouse and greenhouse crops, focusing on strawberries and blueberries. In addition, we ae investigating the role of flies in pollination of mangoes and avocadoes in field orchards, as well as ways to attract more flies to these orchards during the flowering period. Flies have short life cycles, and could be used to great effect in agriculture when short bursts of pollination activity are required.
The Pollinator Lab 