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World Bee Day
Written By: Katie Wall | Issue: 2019/05 - May
World Bee Day, what this that? And aren’t all pollinators included?
Yes! All pollinators, including the backyard hive of Honey Bees, are the pollinators of approximately one-third of all the food we eat.
What is a pollinator? Well, just to name a few; birds, flys, beetles, bats, hummingbirds, and the important 25,000 to 30,000 species of bees!
Why should we give them a whole day? Well, they’re responsible for every third bite of food we eat. Period. I say we give them a year!
Globally, these guys are responsible for seed production in 90 percent of flowering plants. Also, 35 percent of the world crop production. For example, berries (blue-, black-, cran-, and raspberry), plums, watermelon, peaches, apples, coffee, cantelope, squash, cucumbers, soybeans, cherries, all almonds, pumpkins, and chocolate.
Imagine a world without these foods. Just the grasses eaten by our livestock are a big one!
To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated May 20th as World Bee Day… www.worldbeeday.org #worldbeeday, #savethebees.
The observance of World Bee Day worldwide has many objectives:
To draw the attention of the world’s public and political decision-makers to the importance of protecting bees;
To remind us that we depend on bees and other pollinators; and
To protect bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries.
What are things you can do, if you do not want to keep bees?
Leave some areas under natural habitat;
Creating hedgerows;
Reducing or changing the usage of pesticides; and herbicides.
Leaving nesting sites; and
Planting native and nectar bearing plants.
Support your local beekeeper, buy local honey from them. Look for “certified” North Carolina honey.
And by all means come to a Macon County Beekeepers Club meeting. We meet the first Thursday of the month in the Extension Office, 193 Thomas Heights Road, Franklin North Carolina. Like Us on facebook: maconcountybeekeepers. For more information, visit www.abfnet.org and www.ncbeekeepers.org.
