🌿 Pesticide Regulation and Pollinator Protection

About this simulation

UK pesticide approvals carry legally binding label conditions, and many bee-toxic products may not be applied to a flowering crop while bees are actively foraging. This scene models a tractor spray pass over a flowering field next to a hedgerow buffer zone and an apiary, so you can see how timing, buffer distance and wind combine to determine whether spraying is compliant and whether drift actually reaches the colony.

How it works

• Bee foraging activity follows a daylight curve — bees fly from roughly dawn to dusk, peaking around midday, and stay inside the hive at night.
• Regulatory status is a breach if the crop is in full bloom and bees are actively foraging while spraying is underway — the classic label restriction most bee-toxic products carry.
• Spray drift reach grows with wind speed. If it exceeds the buffer zone width, droplets can physically reach the hedge and hive regardless of the legal timing.
• Beekeeper notification (via BeeBase / local notification schemes) lets a keeper move or net hives before spraying, cutting exposure even when other conditions are risky.

Controls

• Time of day — sets the sun position and the bees' foraging activity.
• Crop flowering stage — pre-flower and post-flower crops carry no flowering-period restriction; full bloom does.
• Buffer zone width — distance between the crop edge and the hedge/hive line.
• Wind speed — how far the spray cloud drifts downwind.
• Beekeeper notified — toggles whether the apiary has been forewarned and hives protected.
• 🚜 Run spray pass — sends the sprayer across the field under the current conditions.

Did you know?

Suspected pesticide poisoning of bees in Great Britain can be reported to the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS), which is free and can trigger a site inspection and residue testing of dead bees and affected foliage.