Farmer Bakker
The Beemster Bee Ribbon is an all-you-can-eat restaurant for insects
At CONO we dream of happy cows, happy farmers and a happy earth. That is why we sowed the Beemster Bee Corridor. Farmers Johan and Jeannette Bakker from Middenbeemster have been participating from the very beginning.
Those who drive through the Beemster polder will see a ribbon of cheerful, colorful flowers at more and more farms. That is the Beemster Bee Corridor, which provides food for all kinds of insects. A solution for the endangered wild bee, which plays a crucial role in the pollination of all kinds of flowers, vegetables and fruit. Butterflies and other insects also feast on this feast.
“I think the Beemster Bee Corridor is a very nice landscape element,” says Johan. “For me, biodiversity is a variety of animals, grass, vegetables and flowers. The flowers also provide environmentally friendly crop protection, Jeannette adds: "The beauty is that certain good insects that come up on these flowers eat the bugs that can be in the corn with us."
The Beemster Bee Corridor flowers from spring to autumn. The different flowers alternate, which means that the strip always changes color. Johan: "They are annual plants, so we mow them around February and mix them through the soil as natural fertilizer."