Beyond Honey

There are more than 20,000 bee species on the earth. Why we need them, why we’re losing them, and what we’re doing to help.

why we need them

While honey is a nice ancillary benefit, it pales in comparison to the work bees do each year, pollinating over 30% of the world’s food crops and 90% of our wild plants. Most people don’t realize that less than 1% of over 20,000 bee species even create honey, and of those, only a select few are viable as commercial honey producers.

The Honey Bee has become the poster child for an entire species on the decline. With all the discussion about bees in the last decade, many people still mistake the risk of losing access to honey as the greatest threat.

In contrast, 100% of bee species participate in the vital act of pollination. Without their help, many fruit and vegetable crops would no longer be available. The extent of the reduction of fresh food supplies has been conservatively estimated at 30-35%, though leading scientists expect a greater loss due to potentially dependent relationships in food chain dynamics.

why we’re losing them

Bees don’t pollinate for the sake of pollination, they’re simply looking for pollen as a food source. The fact that they’re playing a symbiotic role that enables other plant species to bear fruit is just one of nature’s beautiful coincidences. Unfortunately, for the last several decades, farmers all over the world have discontinued the once traditional practice of planting valuable bee-friendly cover crops to restore depleted soil. Instead, synthetic fertilizers are now applied to the soil directly, allowing the farmer to use the same field year after year. This practice, combined with the astronomical increase in soybean and corn production (two of many staple crops that do not require insects for pollination), and you effectively have a crop mono-culture that creates unhealthy pollinator populations that struggle to find food.

Imagine reducing your local grocery store to a single aisle. That’s the kind of reduction, both in variety and quantity, that bees face every day.

Conditions like this lead to physical stress which can limit their ability to produce adequate off-spring. Their strength in numbers has traditionally been one of their best defense mechanisms, allowing them to fight off natural enemies like the Varroa Mite which kills millions of bees each year. With their numbers in decline, that strategy is becoming less effective each year.

what we’re doing to help

In 2017, we partnered with the Xerces Society and donated thousands of dollars to help fund numerous pollinator research efforts. In 2019, in an effort to be more involved in our local communities, we partnered with Tom Bench, a local beekeeper and dedicated conservationist, to form The Hollow Tree Honey Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration of native bee habitat throughout the Intermountain West. In March, our first community event was attended by almost 400 people and over 130 native bee boxes were built by volunteers. Additionally, we are helping to fund wildflower seed distribution efforts nationwide to help provide much needed food resources for pollinating insects. Through this public-private partnership, we are working to continually develop new ways to promote responsible, pollinator friendly agriculture practices, support conservation-minded beekeepers, and fund critical research. By doing so, we hope to increase the health and habitat of all pollinator species throughout the Western U.S. while providing a blueprint for other like-minded companies.

get involved

While purchasing products from responsible companies is a start, we all have to do a little bit extra to achieve a lasting, meaningful difference. Entomologists and apiary experts all agree that the single most beneficial action you can take is to plant pollinator-friendly flowers. If that sounds simple, it’s probably because it is. “It’s one of those problems where the primary solution is staring right at us”, Tom says. “That doesn’t happen very often in the natural world.” Beyond planting flowers, the best thing you can do is educate yourself. An educated consumer is a powerful tool for change.