Summary blueberries are an important crop in the US, worth approximately $797 million annually

The crop is primarily pollinated by honey bees, but IT can take 5 to 10 colonies per acre to achieve optimal yields. There is a native, solitary BEE species, osmia ribifloris, that specializes on blueberry-type flowers and has been shown previously to pollinate the crop well. This BEE's native range includes california and oregon, who together account for 40% of the value of the US crop ($320 million). While IT has been known that this species could be an excellent blueberry pollinator, IT has not yet been put into use on a commercial scale. The first step is to begin propagating a large population in their native habitat. Foothill BEE ranch has located sites in california, on private property, where the BEE thrives and over the past 4 years has built a population of over 10,000 bees. This is enough to begin pollinating on a larger scale, as IT has been estimated that 1,000 bees per acre are needed. For this research, we will deploy these bees on a significant scale in a real-world, open field trial, to gather data on BEE establishment rate, blueberry yield and pollen species collected by the BEE. Foothill BEE ranch will team with an organic blueberry producer in stockton, california and with solitary BEE experts at USDA-ARS and UC davis. The study will be conducted in six 1-acre plots with honey bees, paired with six 1-acre plots with honey bees and o. Ribifloris. We will measure nesting establishment, reproductive rate, flower visitation rate and blueberry yield. If successful, we will be able to plan for raising more of these bees and scaling up the system to pollinate more acres every year. While blueberry yields are often good, honey bees are not ideally suited, anatomically, for blueberries and have been shown to be vulnerable to biotic and abiotic stresses in the environment. Previous research has shown that pollination can be improved when more than one pollinator species is present in a crop setting. Blueberry growers may be able to improve yields by adding this gentle, native species and reducing their numbers of honey BEE hives rented. We believe the time has come to begin working with this species on a larger scale and this project will allow US to take the first steps towards that goal.