New research asks why do bees return to Southern crops that don’t need pollination?

By Jamie Groh, UF/IFAS

Why do bees keep returning to crops that do not need pollination? Isaac Esquivel, an assistant professor with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, is investigating what draws bees to cotton, peanut and soybean fields across the South, even though these crops can produce a harvest without their help.

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“It's somewhat understudied,” said Esquivel. The research is asking why bees keep returning and even nesting, despite regular field work and pest treatments. These crops don’t rely on bees to set seed, so the bees’ continued presence raises more questions for farmers and researchers.

Esquivel hopes to develop a deeper understanding of how the crop flowers meet bees’ dietary needs or fall short. Part of his research will focus on the health, diversity and abundance of the pollinators and the nutritional quality of pollen and nectar from these crops.

Funded by a nearly $300,000 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant, the study will follow bees in cotton, peanut, and soybean fields to see where they forage and what they use for food. Esquivel hopes the work will show how farms can better support pollinators across the Southeast.

"As development replaces agricultural land, maintaining more crop land could provide important benefits for pollinators,” Esquivel said. “Flower‑producing crops like cotton, peanuts and soybeans can provide long‑term forage for bees, especially during extreme drought or Southeast summers, when other floral resources are scarce.”

The research will also explore how nearby habitats shape bee activity in crop fields, including whether bees are present at all and how heavily they depend on crops for food.

“Generally, bees in these crops were overlooked because there wasn't any harm in having them,” said Esquivel. “But we have historical studies that showed a 10% increase in cotton seed yield when the flowers were exposed to bees.”

He explains that 10% can seem like a small number, “but for a crop that doesn't need pollination, a 10% boost is a pretty good amount. Farmers would then ask how they could funnel more bees into their crops.”

“This seed grant gives us the resources to gather preliminary data, collaborate with colleagues across states and use AI modeling to better understand these systems,” said Esquivel. “It’s also allowing for training a new master’s student and laying the groundwork for expanded research and improvement for agriculture on a broader scale down the road."

Together, the work aims to clarify how common crop fields fit into a changing landscape for bees and agriculture. By better understanding when and why pollinators use these farms, the research could help guide future decisions about land use, crop management, and how working farmland supports both food production and pollinator health.