Bees and hoverflies are key to growing more fruit and veg in cities -- new research

• People in these neighbourhoods are unable to purchase fresh food within walking distance or via a quick trip on public transport.
• Instead, they have to choose between shopping at convenience stores with scarce fresh food in stock or spending some of their food budget on transportation.
• Growing fruit and vegetables in cities is an effective and sustainable way of improving many urban residents’ access to fresh produce.
• But we also found that some crops, such as strawberries, struggle to attract enough pollinating insects to produce a quality crop.

Top of the crops

• Our study involved conducting over 1,000 surveys in allotments across the city of Brighton & Hove in the south of England.
• Bumblebees visited the widest range of crops, including fruit trees, beans, pumpkins and tomatoes.
• With the data we collected, we created a visual representation resembling a “social network” of the interactions between different crops and insects.
• Our findings revealed that many of the crops that are cultivated in urban areas attract a diverse array of insect groups.

Strawberries need a helping hand

• The strawberry plants that were pollinated naturally by insects produced lower quality fruit than those receiving supplemental pollination by hand.
• This finding suggests that we need to improve the quality of insect pollination that some crops receive in cities.

Food for cities

• Improving crop pollination in cities could be achieved by increasing the availability of food and nesting habitat for insects.
• Growing more food in cities has the potential to improve people’s access to fresh produce.
• Only then will we be able to sustain and expand urban food production for the benefit of city dwellers.