Chew on this the next time you eat a blueberry - each blueberry is the result of a flower that was pollinated by a bee.

In other words: no buzz, no berry.

With that in mind, it's no wonder blueberry growers bring in hives of honey bees or bumblebees when their blueberry bushes are in bloom.

“We strongly believe in pollinating blueberries. We believe that pollination helps increase berry size and weight and increases overall crop yield, ”Ryan said.

Atwood, co-owner of H&A Farms, which owns, leases and manages more than 350 acres of blueberries in North and Central Florida.

But pollinating blueberries with bees isn't an exact science, yet.

Successful pollination depends on a variety of factors, such as when the hives are introduced or how much buzz a blueberry flower needs to release its pollen.

Additionally, blueberry growers in the United States report that ineffective pollination is a top concern of their business, as it directly affects the quantity and quality of produce they can bring to market, said Rachel Mallinger, assistant professor of entomology. UF / IFAS and nematology department that specializes in pollinators.

That's why Mallinger and several other researchers from blueberry producing states have come together to develop recommendations and tools to help growers optimize pollination.

In addition to Mallinger, the research team includes scientists from Michigan State University, Oregon State University, and Washington State University. Rufus Issacs, a professor in the department of entomology at Michigan State University, will lead the project, which is funded by a $ 2 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which is part of the United States Department of Agriculture.

“Some years blueberry pollination goes well, other years not so well, so we look to help growers take some of the guesswork out of it,” Mallinger said. “Our ultimate goal is to provide a tool that we call a pollination planner. The pollination planner will help growers decide how many bees to use and when to bring them in based on their location, climate, size of their farm, and blueberry varieties they grow.”

Leading Ebony Taylor, then an undergraduate student in the UF / IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Jon Elmquist, a former lab manager in Mallinger's lab, looking at flowers in blueberry bushes. The images were taken prior to the national facial covering and social distancing guidelines. Photo by Rachel Mallinger

Mallinger and his research team will partner with Florida blueberry growers, including Atwood, to conduct their field experiments. Florida's blueberry industry is a $ 60 million a year business, and this pollination research will help support this growing product.

"This research will help us understand the economic benefits of honey bees for pollination and the number of hives that are needed to pollinate properly," Atwood said.

The multi-state project has several components, Mallinger said.

“Our contribution in Florida will be to analyze our modern southern high bush blueberry varieties and determine their pollination needs and what makes them attractive to bees. Some varieties must be pollinated with pollen from a different blueberry variety to achieve optimal yields, while others are more self-compatible. Some varieties can retain their pollen strongly, others less. Even the color or size of the flower, or the amount of nectar it produces, could affect the attractiveness of that flower to a bee, ”he said.

Identifying those traits is just the first step, Mallinger added.

“Blueberry breeders often try to develop varieties that have good flavor, resistance to pests, things like that. But we don't think about the probability that a variety of blueberries will be pollinated. If we can identify the traits that led to increased pollination, we can inform breeding efforts, ”he said.

Other project researchers will develop recommendations for the number of bees, called population density, needed to pollinate modern varieties of blueberries. Another component of the project will investigate how weather conditions, such as extreme heat, influence pollination success.