Why We Must Value Bees- Part 1- Honey bees

Honey bees are not native to Canada. Honey bees likely hitched a ride to North America sometime in the 1700s.

The honey bee is a major pollinator of many of our food crops, almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon and many other crops all rely on honey bees for pollination.

So if honey bees disappear, and we do not find replacements that can do the work they do, then, foods we take for granted, will decrease in supply and increase in price. 

The pollination service provided by insect pollinators, bees mainly, was €153 billion (euros) in 2005 for the main crops that feed the world. This figure amounted to 9.5% of the total value of the world agricultural food production.

The main reason that the honey bee is important for our world is as simple as this; if the honey bee does not pollinate the crops, the crops do not grow and produce the food that gets harvested and brought to the store where we buy it and bring it home to feed ourselves and our families.

In other words there is a direct connection between the bees pollinating the crops, and our ability to provide food for our families.

The honey bees do provide a second service; they make  honey.