Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the £500 million estimate of the value of pollination services to UK agriculture was calculated.

Bees and other pollinators play an essential role in our £100 billion food industry. The latest estimated value of insect pollination on UK crops fruit, vegetable and oil seed rape production is around £630 million per year. This estimate is based on increases in yield and market quality. It was produced through field and desk-based research undertaken by the University of Reading and other researchers, who estimated the potential deficits in crop yield and quality without (or with reduced) insect pollination services, and related this to market value.