Why our Food depends on BEES...

Without bees we lose a third of our food. World studies reveal why we need to care about bee health in Australia.

We all know that protecting bees is good thing, but do you know why?

Let’s face the fact that one third of the food you eat needs bees for pollination . Without bees, your range of food could look very different and cost a lot more. You will have to give up many of your favorites.

Many scientists agree that bees are increasingly at risk? Shortage of Bee food and pesticides have been listed as causes but the biggest problem is parasites, especially the Varroa mite, which carries bee-killing diseases. This was first noted in the US just over 10 years ago, when beekeepers reported a sudden increase in empty hives. Since then the increased losses have been echoed elsewhere. Beekeepers world wide report losing up to twice as many bees as they can afford. Wild-bee populations have fallen by 23 per cent. In Europe, up to 50 per cent of bees are dying and in China, farmers have turned to pollinating by hand.

Pollination occurs from bees, other insects, wind, birds, and bats taking pollen from one plant to another( in the same species), to makes seed from which more plants grow. Not every plant needs bees to pollinate them. Cereal crops like wheat and rice, are wind-pollinated and we won’t starve if bees die out, but what will be affected are the foods that make our diet diverse and nutritious

Australia has two types of bee– native and European which are our most used crop pollinators. Pollination is organized by beekeepers who move hives to farms when crops need pollination.

Almond trees for example will only produce 20% of fruit without bees being brought to carry out pollination. It’s this practice of mass pollination that makes bees so important and why the Varroa mite is so dangerous. If our bee population catches this, many to the ones used by farms to pollinate our crops will die out.

There is some good news – Australia is free from Varroa (the only continent in the world that is). Your purchase of Honey supports the beekeepers and the Bio Security at our borders we need to ensure it does not come here or if it does we can beat its spread.

The crops that will be hardest hit include almonds, apples, avocado, blueberries, cucumber, pumpkin and rockmelon. Also animals need protein to grow fast and much of the protein in their diet comes from clover dependent on bees to pollinate it.

Do your bit to save the bees :

1. Plant more flowers!

2. Know Pesticides are a threat to bees but a home garden can be maintained without them – pull weeds by hand and use natural ways to control pests eating your plants. Look for our bulletins for natural ways to defeat bugs.

3. Purchase Australian Honey preferably packed direct from the beekeeper without being blended or over processed and support Beekeepers who are the custodians of bees Learn to use it as a sweetener for the twin benefit of pure natural honey being more healthy than refined sugar and purchasing it gives beekeepers the money to sustain hives. Look for our bulletins for ways to replace white refined sugar in our daily life.

4. Buy ABC Honey! We are the packer for The Australian Beekeepers Cooperative Limited. We pack 100% pure natural Australian honey from our beekeepers,warmed in our infra red warming room to hive temperature ,lightly filtered and packed in our export quality food safe packing room.

5. Tell your friends and family about the ABC Honey Hive and how their contribution can help save the bees along with receiving great offers!