Jake in the desert

Article on the importance of bees -'America's bee problem is an us problem' (here's a short blurb from it - the link for the full article is below -- and it is a GREAT read):

"They are the phantom backbone of our agricultural system: The bees pollinate the crops; the beekeepers shuttle them from field to field, coast to coast.

They directly contribute to a third of America’s food: apples, peaches, lettuce, squashes, melons, broccoli, cranberries, tree nuts, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, plums, clementines, tangerines, sunflowers, pumpkins, alfalfa for your beef, and guar for your processed foods. Ninety-eight percent of organic vitamin C sources, 70 percent of vitamin A, and 74 percent of lipids; $17 billion worth of crops annually from honeybee pollination alone. The demand for their services has tripled in the past 50 years and shows no signs of abating."

https://www.theringer.com/features/2023/8/3/23816154/honeybees-commercial-urban-beekeepers-bees-dying-crisis

#bees #food #fruit #beef #HoneyBees #BeeCrisis #agriculture

America’s Bee Problem Is an Us Problem

You may have heard America’s honeybees are dying. But what does that mean for the people on the front lines—and what could it mean for what ends up on your plate?

The Ringer
Aug 11, 2023 at 7:17pmWeb
Show threadMike DAug 11, 2023

@jake4480
“These big, huge farms that disallow a variety aren’t good on any level other than a profit-making level, and we all have to live. But maybe there’s a solution that smarter minds than what I have can come up with,” he finishes. “Beekeeping as a vocation or commercial pollination as a vocation is probably about 100 years old and ties right in with the internal combustion engine and trucking and interstate highways.

“It’s all … ,” Coté says, with a hint of resignation, “together.”