Page 16 - Farm Worker 84

Why are HONEY BEES
so important to
Crops and Farmers?
Honey bees are always working, and they
travel incredible distances to collect pollen.
It’s because of these amazing journeys that
we are able to enjoy many foods like cu-
cumbers, pumpkins, cherries and apples.
One out of every three bites of food we eat
is a result of pollinators like honey bees,
and crops like blueberries and cherries are
90 per cent dependent on pollination. Honey
bees are so important that farmers often
have bee hives transported and then placed
on their farm to provide pollination for their
crops.
An ecosystem is a network of interac-
tions between living organisms (plants,
animals, humans, micro-organisms) and
their environment (water, soil, air). Wild
and domesticated bees are an integral part
of countless ecosystems around the world.
But high-input farming systems (based on
intensive agriculture) have hugely changed
the dynamics of ecosystems.
The use of pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs and
non-renewable energy have upset the natu-
ral balances within ecosystems, causing a
rapid decline in bee populations. Honeybee
mortality rates, linked to contaminant resi-
dues found in dead bees and beehives, are
a clear indicator of the high pressure affect-
ing ecosystems. To re-establish healthy bee
populations, it is essential to understand
how all living organisms and environmen-
tal elements are connected within a single
ecosystem.
16 Die Plaaswerker | The Farm Worker
This leads to a question: What relationship
do bees have with the food that we eat, and
so with agriculture?
Animals pollinate over 80% of flowering
plants. Among these animals, bees are by
far the most important, with around 25,000
different species worldwide. As they search
for food, bees carry pollen from flower to
flower, making reproduction possible for
the majority of plant species, both wild and
cultivated. This makes bees essential to the
production of many fruits and vegetables,
the life of pastures and forests and the
diet of humans and domesticated and wild
animals.
The relationship between humans and bees
predates agriculture. Even before beekeep-
ing as we know it today existed, people
were gathering honey from wild bees.
Canola farmers have one of the most pro-
ductive partnerships with honey bees. The
canola plant provides an ideal food source
for honey bees - its nectar is great for honey
production, and its flowers have large
quantities of pollen for honey bees to eat
and spread. Additionally, according to stud-
ies, when pollinated by honey bees, canola
actually produces a measurably higher yield,
making the relationship highly important
both for the farmers and for the honey bees.
It’s a coexistence that needs to be pro-
tected: honey bees need healthy crops and
healthy crops need honey bees. In fact, the
involvement of honey bees in the growth
of crops is essential for farmers to main-
tain their livelihood, but it’s also necessary
for people to keep enjoying the foods they
love. That’s why it’s so important to keep
their hives healthy and why farmers are so
invested in their thriving presence across
the country.