National Pollinator Week: The Animals That Help Our Food Sources

This week is National Pollinator Week, and garden experts say pollinators are necessary as a resource for both plants and humans.

Putnam County Master Gardeners President Vicky Draper said that pollinators play a key role in our food sources.

“Pollinators can be carpet beetles, birds, bees, butterflies, bats all pollinate,” Draper said. “If we didn’t have pollinators, we would lose an estimate of one-third of our food in the world.”

Draper said that in order to keep up the population of these pollinators, residents can help by planting a diverse range of native plants, and keeping a clean water resource. Plants native to Tennessee include milkweed, black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, and bee bombs.

According to Draper, another major way to help pollinators is to use less insecticides.

Draper said she thinks pollinators have grown in notoriety because people like them. The pandemic saw an uptick in the amount of people interested in bee-keeping, and Draper said she thinks are are great benefits to native bees and honey bees.