The global agricultural landscape faces a critical challenge: a growing threat to crop pollination due to the decline in bee populations and climate change. Furthermore, modern crop management techniques such as protected cropping (i.e. cultivation under greenhouses, tunnels, or nets) restricts the access of wild pollinators, which means managed pollinators must be used. These challenges, combined with the fact that some crops are not well-suited for existing managed pollinators like honey bees and bumblebees, mean there is a real and urgent need for alternative pollination solutions.
This is where the HoverPollination project offers a groundbreaking solution. We are introducing two novel, natural, and highly efficient pollinators to the agricultural market: GOLDFLY® (Eristalinus aeneus) and QUEENFLY® (Eristalis tenax). These syrphid flies, commonly known as hoverflies or flower flies, represent a new class of managed pollinators specifically adapted to a wide range of cropping systems and environmental conditions. Indeed, GOLDFLY® is well adapted to hot and sunny climates, whereas QUEENFLY® thrives in cooler, cloudier conditions characteristic of continental and oceanic climates. Both species are common, widespread, and exhibit a strong floral foraging behavior as they continuously visit flowers to feed on pollen and nectar. While the efficacy of these eristaline hoverflies as pollinators is well-known, they have never been commercially available as a managed pollination solution until now. POLYFLY’s HoverPollination project is not just an incremental improvement, it is a transformative innovation that provides a new path toward more sustainable and resilient pollination practices in agriculture.
