Bee-friendly farm machinery & wild-flowering landscapes presented with the European Bee Award 2016

In a ceremony hosted by MEP Franc Bogovič at the European Parliament in Brussels, this year’s award was presented to two projects for their contributions to pollinators’ wellbeing & bee-friendly farming practices.

Brussels, 7 December 2016 — Designed to distinguish innovative & practical ideas to protect pollinators in European farming, the European Bee Award, established by the European Landowners’ Organization (ELO) and the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association (CEMA), was handed over last night to this year’s winners:

“B-lines – connecting the landscape for pollinators”, a large-scale initiative developed by Buglife from the UK, is the winner of the “land management practices” award; while
“Double knife” mowing technology from BB Umwelttechnik in Germany was awarded the “innovative & technological solutions” prize.

Matt Shardlow, Chief Executive of Buglife, and Max Bannaski, founder and CEO of BB Umwelttechnik received the prize in the presence of Janez Potočnik, former EU Commissioner for the Environment.

Franc Bogovič MEP, Member of the Jury, underlined the growing prominence and popularity of the award, stressing that “application numbers keep increasing year-on-year. This shows there is a widely-shared commitment to protecting pollinators in European agriculture”.

Thierry de l’Escaille, Secretary General of ELO, congratulated the “B-lines” project on their successful cooperation between landowners, farmers, NGOs, governments, and local groups to act together to set up non-stop habitats for pollinator communities in the farmed environment.

On behalf of the agricultural machinery industry, Gilles Dryancour, CEMA Honorary President, welcomed the development of farm equipment technology that can reduce the impact of farming activities on pollinators’ populations, as showcased by the winning project “Double knife”.

In 2016, the European Bee Award competition received 27 applications from 17 different European countries. Last night’s award ceremony gathered over 100 participants: bee-keepers, policy makers, landowners, academia and representatives of the agri-food sector exchanged best practices, while enjoying a festive networking evening celebrating bees and biodiversity.

Please find the German version in this LINK