Bees

" If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Albert Einstein

Bees are an integral part of the food system as they pollinate many of our food crops. In the UK this includes apples, pears, raspberries, nuts, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, fennel, string beans and cucumber. In addition they pollinate the flowers of many plants which become part of the feed of farm animals.

More and more bees are disappearing off the face of the Earth. In China's Sichuan Provence there are no bees left to pollinate the pear blossom that blankets the hills in the Spring, instead thousands of villagers climb through the trees with 'pollination sticks' replacing the age old natural activity of bee pollination. In some areas of the UK honeybee numbers have dropped by as much as 80 per cent, while bumblebees across the country have declined by 60 per cent since 1970.
The British Bee Association warns that honey bees could disappear entirely from Britain by 2018.

There are different theories why we are losing bees at such an alarming rate but it seems it is mainly due to loss of wild habitats, intensive farming and overuse of pesticides and herbicides.

How can we help?

Support The Soil Association
Organic farming helps ensure a future for our honeybees by not using pesticides and creating a diversity of plants for bees to forage on.
www.soilassociation.org.

Grow bumblebee foraging plants.
These include foxgloves; lupins; honeysuckle; poppies, cornflower. lavender, sage, aquilegia, rosemary, hollyhocks; marjoram, delphinium, sunflower and comfrey.
www.organiccatalogue.com