Why bees are important for humans, the planet and food supplies…

Bees have cultural and environmental importance as pollinators and producers of honey and medicinal products. Research reveals noted claims of antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. The movement of pollen between plants is necessary for plants to fertilize and reproduce.

Both farmed and wild bees control the growth and quality of vegetation - when they thrive, so do crops. Bees are vital when it comes to food security and variety in plants and animals. However, the welfare and number of bees worldwide are in decline due to a rise in factors, such as pesticides and urbanization, and it is essential to protect them to maintain human well-being along with many of the Earth’s ecosystems.

A loss of bees would affect honey supplies, but, more importantly, world food security and biodiversity. Without them, the world could be a very different place.

The significance of honey bees…

Honey bees are big money makers for U.S. agriculture. These social and hardworking insects produce six hive products - honey, pollen, royal jelly, beeswax, propolis, and venom – all collected and used by people for various nutritional and medicinal purposes. Honey, of course, is the most well-known and economically important hive product.

After honey, beeswax is the second most important hive product from an economic standpoint. The beeswax trade dates to ancient Greece and Rome, and in Medieval Europe, the substance was a unit of trade for taxes and other purposes. Beeswax is popular for making candles and as an ingredient in artists’ materials and in leather and wood polishes.

The greatest importance of honey bees to agriculture isn’t a product of the hive at all. It’s their work as crop pollinators. In fact, bee pollination accounts for about $15 billion in added crop value.

The importance of pollinators…

Most plant species - almost 90%, in fact-- rely on pollinators to reproduce. Pollination is the process by which pollinators help plants to produce fruit (technically anything with seeds on the inside, so that includes things we normally think of as vegetables, like cucumbers, green beans, and tomatoes) by transporting pollen from one flower to another. There are approximately 200,000 different species of animals around the world that act as pollinators. Of these, about 1,000 are vertebrates, such as birds, bats, and small mammals, and the rest are invertebrates, including flies, beetles, butterflies, moths, and bees. Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species.

 Pollinators help plants survive, and plants:

·         Produce ⅓ of our food supply by giving us countless fruits, vegetables, and nuts

·         Provide ½ of the world’s oils, fibers (such as the cotton used to make clothes), and other raw materials

·         Are used to create many medicines

·         Provide food and cover for wildlife

·         Keep waterways clean

·         Prevent soil erosion

·         Produce the oxygen we breathe

·         Absorb CO2, counteracting global climate change

Globally, pollinators are responsible for pollinating more than 1,200 crops. 87 of the leading 115 food crops, or about 75%, depend on pollinators. Every year, pollinators contribute more than $217 billion to the global economy, and $24 billion to the US economy. If we consider the indirect products of plants, such as milk and beef from cows fed on alfalfa, the value of pollinator services in the US would increase to an incredible $40 billion.