The NAPPC/NACD
Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award
The Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award. For the past three years this
award has recognized an individual or family in the farm and ranch community in the U.S. who
has contributed significantly to pollinator species protection and conservation on working and wild
lands. NAPPC and NACD through their recognition and appreciation of these individuals and
organizations encourage their conservation stewardship and hope to catalyze future actions on
behalf of pollinators through public recognition of the award winner. In selecting the winner, all
activities that contribute significantly toward pollinator conservation will be considered, including
but not limited to, “on-the-ground” pollinator conservation best management practices,
development of conservation partnerships and demonstration projects that promote pollinator
awareness and conservation.
What is NAPPC? The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) has a nine
year history of bringing together scientists, land managers, agribusiness, conservation NGO’s
and private industry in a public-private collaboration working on tri-national initiatives to highlight
the importance and to provide security for North American pollinators. NAPPC, facilitated by the
Pollinator Partnership (P2), represents the North American collaborative effort to increase
knowledge, raise awareness, investigate best practices and build cooperative ventures to ensure
the stability and sustainability of pollinators and flowering plants for food, forests, flowers and
farms.
Pollinating species are influential in the production of an estimated $40 billion in products in the
United States alone. Eighty percent of the food plant species worldwide depend on pollination by
animals, almost all of which are insects. Estimates of the impact of pollinators on our food supply
range as high as one out of every three mouthfuls of food we eat, and of the beverages we drink.
More than half of the world's diet of fats and oils comes from oilseed crops, many of which are
pollinated by animals, including cotton, oil palm, canola and sunflowers.
What is NACD? The National Association of Conservation Districts is the nonprofit
organization that represents the nation's 3,000 conservation districts and 17,000 men and women
who serve on their governing boards. Conservation districts are local units of government
established under state law to carry out natural resource management programs at the local
level. Districts work with more than 2.5 million cooperating landowners and operators to help
them manage and protect land and water resources on nearly 98 percent of the private lands in
the United States. As the national voice for all conservation districts, NACD supports voluntary,
incentive-driven natural resource conservation programs that benefit all citizens. The
association's philosophy is that conservation decisions should be made by local people with
technical and funding assistance from federal, state and local governments and the private
sector. The association's programs and activities aim to advance the resource conservation
cause of local districts and the millions of cooperating landowners and land managers they serve.
Importance of the NAPPC/NACD Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award.
The award is a celebration of a growing movement in U.S. agriculture to integrate positive
conservation efforts into farm and ranch operations. By acknowledging the critical and yet often
invisible contributions of bees, butterflies, bats, birds, beetle and other animals, the award
recipient is leading by example in helping to pave the way for a healthy and sustainable
conservation movement.
The Award Design. Designed by world renowned artist James Randolph, whose work can be
seen in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s tribute to Challenger and in galleries and
museums around the continent, www.jamesrandolf.com, the handsome desk-sized glass portrait
of pollinators is meant to catch the light, and remind all of the critical and ethereal work of the
pollinating animals.