While everyone may not be a fan of honey bees due to their defensive nature, honey bees are crucial to our livelihood. These pollinators contribute to our overall health, as well as the planet. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, honey bees are responsible for 1 in every 3 bites of food we take. They are essential for the pollination of flowers, fruits, and vegetables resulting in about 20 billion dollars worth of crop production in the U.S. annually.
The loss of honey bees will have a tremendous impact on food security and biodiversity. To better understand their role in our world, let’s take a look at why honey bees are so important.
The Importance of Honey Bees
Agricultural intensification, through the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and other practices, has massively increased crop yield. However, this has been at a huge environmental cost. Throughout the last 15 years, bee colonies have been disappearing due to toxic pesticides, droughts, habitat destruction, air pollution, global warming, and much more. If they continue to dwindle, they could become a much more costly commodity for farmers which could lead to
rising food prices for everyone.
Can you imagine walking into your grocery store and not seeing the shelves stocked with your usual products? A majority of our fresh fruits and vegetables will be scarce, there will be little to no products containing honey, almonds, coffee, and– dare I say it, chocolate! We’d even lose out on milk and beef products, as the plants like Alfalfa used to feed our precious cattle are pollinated by honey bees.
In addition, these pollinators have a wide variety of plants relying on them to reproduce. Fruits and vegetables solely rely on pollinators transporting pollen from one flower to another in order to grow and keep the cycle moving.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the most important life contributions bees make for us:
- Provide over ⅓ of our food supply.
- Medicinal purposes for thousands
of years. - Offer nutritional food for our
wildlife. - Aid in the prevention of soil
erosion. - Provide over ½ of the world’s
fibers (e.g., cotton), oils, and other raw materials.
As you can see, honey bees are crucial to human beings and have become the cornerstone of our food system,
including medicine.
How Can You Help Save Honey Bees?
There are several ways you can help honey bees. This includes eliminating the use of pesticides and herbicides on our lawns. They are harmful to humans and bees feed on the flowers from plants. It is vital that these not be coated in substances that could weaken the hive.
Another way is to plant bee friendly flowers. Be sure to fill your garden with a diverse group of plants, especially with those native to where you live, that can offer bees what they need the most: pollen & nectar.
This year we’re doing our part in supporting the honey bees population by growing more lavenders and native flowering plants at Baby Bear Farm– and incorporating protected hives for them to truly flourish! The addition of honey bees at our farm will allow us to provide even more beneficial products, while staying true to our commitment of being 100% organic, without herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides.
Aside from these initiatives, there are other ways to help protect the honey bees. We suggest buying local & organic to support sustainable agriculture, the bees and your community. We look forward to seeing you be a part of the solution.
