Transformations to pollinator-friendly agriculture: Navigating multiple needs and wishes in diverse European farming systems

Insect pollinators are essential to ecosystem functioning and food production, yet evidence points to widespread declines in their abundance and diversity, including on the European continent. Agricultural landscapes are a key space where drivers of decline, such as land-use intensification and pesticide use, intersect with opportunities for recovery through pollinator-friendly farming. The Horizon Europe project Agri4Pol aims to help transform agriculture from a pressure on pollinators to a positive force for their restoration. 

The goal of the project and of this paper aligns with a key message from the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment, which highlights sustainable farming transitions as a pathway to support biodiversity, protect habitats, and provide good quality of life on Earth. Framing pollinator-friendly farming solutions as part of such transformations, we focus on how these practices are perceived and put into practice in different European contexts. We consider how different views, structures and practices might change at multiple decision-making levels. 

In this paper, we present preliminary findings from a multi-actor process designed to understand the different perceived co-benefits and trade-offs that shape the uptake of pollinator-friendly farming across five European regions. Through focus groups in Czechia, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, we examine how stakeholders from multiple decision-making levels (including farmers, advisors, NGOs, and public agencies) perceive the social, agronomic, economic, and ecological impacts of adopting pollinator-friendly farming. Additionally, we look at stakeholder views regarding the effectiveness and practical application challenges of the pollinator friendly farming practices in their region.   

We examine local perspectives and policy environments surrounding pollinator-friendly farming in Western and Mediterranean countries, a newer EU member state and a non-EU state. This geographical mix allows us to consider how environmental and socio-economic conditions shape how these practices are viewed, practiced and structurally supported (or hindered). We identify key themes regarding how stakeholders prioritise different co-benefits and trade-offs of pollinator-friendly farming practices, and how they relate these to relevant regional policies. Finally, we outline how these early insights inform our next steps, including the upcoming policy analysis and in-depth interviews that will address systemic barriers and opportunities for pollinator-friendly food systems.