Violeta Hevia^1,2, Marina García-Llorente^1,2, Rodrigo Martínez-Sastre³, Sara Palomo², Daniel García⁴, Marcos Miñarro³, María Pérez-Marcos⁵, Juan Antonio Sanchez⁵ and José A González¹

¹Social-Ecological Systems Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; ²Department of Applied Research and Agricultural Extension, Madrid Institute for Rural, Agricultural and Food Research and Development (IMIDRA), Alcalá De Henares, Spain; ³Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario (SERIDA), Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain; ⁴Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Universidad de Oviedo, y Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Biodiversidad (CSIC-UO-PA),  Asturias, Spain; ⁵Murcia Institute of Agri-Food Research and Development (Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario – IMIDA), Murcia, Spain 

Pollinator conservation has become a key challenge to achieve sustainable agricultural landscapes and safeguard food supplies worldwide. Considering the potential negative effects of pollinator decline, international efforts have been developed to promote agrienvironmental measures and pollinator-friendly management practices. However, little effort has been devoted to farmers’ perceptions and knowledge about pollinators, or to farmers’ role in enhancing pollination. In this study, we administered 376 face to-face questionnaires in four areas of Spain with different dominant pollinator-dependent crops, to assess the factors behind farmers’ perceptions, knowledge, and practices adopted to promote pollination. Overall, 92.7% of the respondents recognized that pollinator insects are necessary for crop production, and 73.4% perceived pollinator decline in their farms. We found that farmers had moderate knowledge about pollinators. The most applied practices to promote pollinators were reducing insecticide spraying (53.2% of respondents), diversifying crops (42.8%), and increasing fallow fields (39.1%). Factors such as education, age, concern about the pollinator crisis, and professional dedication to agriculture strongly influenced farmers’ knowledge and current application of pollinator-friendly practices. Implications of our results for the ongoing reform of the Common Agricultural Policy are discussed, highlighting the need to increase engagement and trust of farmers through communication and technical assistance.

Keywords: cider-apple orchards; farmers’ perception; horticultural crops; pear orchards; pollination; sunflower crops; sustainable agroecosystems