AFBF joins Monarch Collaborative Group

The group is dedicated to researching ways to increase monarch butterfly populations.
The group is dedicated to researching ways to increase monarch butterfly populations. | File photo

The monarch butterfly population in America has recently seen a sharp decrease, leading to the start of the Monarch Collaborative group to improve monarch butterfly habitat. 

The American Farm Bureau Federation joined the efforts of the Monarch Collaborative group because monarchs are extremely important in the role of pollinator for many crops.

“We want to make sure that all of our pollinators have healthy and sustainable populations,” Ryan Yates, an AFBF member, said. “More of a policy issue here, we’d like to look at opportunities to pre-emptively look at voluntary conservation practices that could help boost those population levels to stem a potential listing by the federal government by the Endangered Species Act.”

The group is dedicated to researching ways to increase monarch butterfly populations while using best management practices for monarch conservation.

“We’ve joined together with a broad and pretty diverse group of stakeholders that represent academia, conservationists as well as farmers and other agribusinesses to look at potential future solutions and practices and communications to help increase future populations and get their population numbers back on track.” Yates said. “And a number of these practices are already taking place, but in general, the butterfly is dependent upon milkweed, so any opportunities to increase populations of milkweed in areas throughout their migration pattern will ultimately lead to increased populations of the monarch.”