Minister supports project to increase wild flower planting

Mr Poots replied: “It is one of the things that I have asked about when looking at how we move beyond the current environmental farming schemes (EFS) to the next tranche.

“Wild flowers grow better on soils that are not so good. They excel where the soil is shallower or is more clay-ish in nature. It is a great thing to encourage wild flowers, and it is something that I would be keen to investigate further, going forward.”

Mr Bradley further asked the minister: “The use of wild flower planting on lands across departments would benefit insect life, which, in turn, would provide food for other insects and, most importantly, birds and, significantly, the most important insect on the planet: the bee.”

The minister remarked: “I agree with the member, particularly on the importance of the honeybee. People often take for granted the work that the bee does to sustain our environment. In America, because of the growing of almonds and the extraction of milk from those almonds, they have lost around one third of the honeybee population.

“That has been done in the name of the environment; people drink almond milk rather than cow’s milk in the name of the environment. They are actually destroying the environment.”