NEWBEE · Novel Endemic Wild Bee Engagement for Environmentally-sound agriculture

NEWBEE tackles two linked challenges: the decline of insect pollinators and the need for reliable nature-positive food production. Our goal is to help farmers make better use of wild bees, who are better pollinators than managed honeybees for many crops, while protecting biodiversity. NEWBEE will do this in three steps. First, we will monitor wild bees on farms using simple rugged camera stations. These stations record free-flying bees as they visit flowers and the footage is analysed with carefully validated artificial-intelligence methods to estimate when and where different species are most active. Second, we will test practical ways to draw wild bees to crops they already visit, such as well-chosen flower strips, nesting options and natural scent blends. Third, we will measure what matters: changes in pollinator diversity, fruit set, size and quality, together with the costs, risks and day-to-day practicality for farmers.NEWBEE also addresses the aspects, important for real-world use. We will compare business cases for wild versus managed pollination, map legal and policy routes for deployment and co-create guidance with farmers, beekeepers and conservation groups. To ensure robust evidence, NEWBEE runs multi-season multi-crop trials across contrasting landscapes, pairing automated observations with expert checks and standard field surveys. The AI analysis is carefully calibrated and uncertainty-aware, so results are comparable across sites. Interventions are tested with clear treatment-control designs to separate real gains from weather or management noise.By the end of NEWBEE, farmers and advisors will have field-tested monitoring methods, evidence-based attraction strategies as well as clear legal and economic guidance. The result is practical pathways to increase crop pollination while restoring biodiversity, directly supporting the European Green Deal, the EU Pollinators Initiative and global goals on food security and nature.