The EPA-supported “Pollival” study led by Trinity has shown that even if we just consider locally produced food crops, loss of pollinators in Ireland could risk a €20-59 million hit per year in crop production.
And if we consider the huge amount of animal-pollinated food we import from elsewhere, pollinator loss could cost more than €800 million per year to the Irish economy through increased import costs.
Pollinators are important to society for a lot of reasons – they ensure productivity in many of our fruit and vegetable crops, contribute to food security and healthy diets, and enable consumer choice. They are also beneficial for other commercially important plants (including feedstocks for livestock, fibres and biofuels).
But pollinators are in decline. One third of bee species in Ireland are at risk of extinction and half of all Irish bee species are in decline.
