Farmers can boost habitat for monarchs, bees with this new tech

ITHACA, N.Y. – Crop fields are low in biodiversity, but farmers may soon be part of the solution thanks to an innovation that allows growers to use corn or other crop seed planting machines to plant strips of milkweed or wildflowers next to their fields.

Cornell University researchers are currently working with industry partners to scale up a technology for multiseed pellets that are the same shape and density as corn seeds, so they work in planters.

As a proof of principle, the team began with milkweed seeds, as described in a 2023 paper, and have now expanded to corn-shaped pellets for milkweeds and wildflowers. They recently planted the pellets at a Cornell research farm in Freeville, New York, which will allow the seeds to break dormancy in the winter and sprout and emerge in spring of 2025.

“Typically, milkweed plants are grown out from seedlings and then transplanted, a process that has limited farmer adoption of flowering strips near cornfields,” said Antonio DiTommaso, professor of soil and crop sciences at Cornell. “It’s still time-consuming and costly.”

The research team has been collaborating with industry partners Kannar Earth Science (to tweak formulations and scale up the pellets to produce thousands for resale) and Corteva Agriscience (for distributing the seeds).

Scientists and government agencies have long advocated for farmers to plant wildflower buffer strips to counter low biodiversity around crops. That lack of biodiversity leads to fewer beneficial insects and the loss of the ecosystem services they provide, such as pollinating plants to increase yields or attracting predator wasps or ladybugs that prey on crop pests.

The pellets – which each hold multiple seeds of a single species – have been formulated with three different milkweeds (common, swamp and butterfly) and three kinds of wildflowers (purple coneflower, wild bergamot and black-eyed Susan).

The researchers used 3D-molding technology to simulate the corn seed’s size and shape. The pellets are composed of diatomaceous earth, wood powder and maltodextrin, a digested cornstarch that acts as a binder. They then add water to make a dough, and fold in seeds – three seeds per pellet for milkweed. 

In order to truly improve biodiversity, large-scale plantings of milkweed and wildflower strips are required. “Not that there’s anything wrong with people planting milkweed in their backyards, but we need them at the landscape level,” DiTommaso said. Experts suggest that refuges should encompass up to 20% of a farmer’s field to have a significant effect.

“When I’m talking to farmers, and I say, you could use the same planter to put this down, they look at me, they’re listening,” DiTommaso said. “This idea was born out of almost abstract discussions a decade ago, and now, it’s happening.”

For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.

Cornell University has dedicated television and audio studios available for media interviews.