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D.C. (NewsDakota.com) Senator John Hoeven announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing million in incentives through the Conservation Reserve Program for farmers and ranchers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin who establish new habitats for declining honey bee populations. These funds come in addition to the million designated for the Midwest by the USDA through the Natural Resources Conservation Service’sEnvironmental Quality Incentives Program in February.

Hoeven says “Honey bees also play a vitally important role in U.S. agriculture, pollinating over one hundred different types of crops. Through this new CRP pollinator initiative, farmers and ranchers can enhance current CRP land by providing better access to nutritious pollinator forage, which supports colony growth and honey production.”

North Dakota is the nation’s number one producer of honey.