I’ve gone on one too many angry rants about inaccurate & deceptive ‘bees are dying’ articles at this point so I will try to be nice :) Also, I’ll give National Geographic credit here for presenting a more ‘balanced’ depiction of the situation than most news outlets offer.
I still have some nitpicks, but this article is a bit more balanced & honest than most, for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, because they admit up front, that the majority of pollination in farms comes from ‘managed’ bee hives, offered up as a service by commercial bee keepers. Many articles never mention this, and present the subject as if all crops are pollinated by wild bees.
Secondly, despite the title, the article clearly states that the science and observations on the subject are not well understood. Obviously wild pollinators supplement the managed honey bee hives, but I’ve never heard of any study that tries to measure the impact of wild pollinators have, compared to managed hives.
I think it’s safe to say the large majority of pollination comes from commercial honey bee keepers. For a point of reference, in the US according to the ‘National Honey Board’, ”The USDA has estimated that 80 percent of insect crop pollination is accomplished by honey bees”.
Also, it is important to remember many crops do not need pollinators. When this article states right off the bat that bees ”pollinate 85 percent of food crops and fruits around the world”, this is slightly misleading.
They really mean bees pollinate 85% of crops and fruits that require pollination. The statement that 85% of all crops require pollination to grow would be incorrect.
With all that said, let me be clear. I’m not trying to be an apologist, or say any of this news is ‘okay’, it’s not. We see these articles all the time now for good reason, because it is super important to protect bees and other pollinators.
But commercial honey bee keepers need to be given credit for the invaluable and important work that they do by providing their hives to increase production in agriculture. They are the true champions. It’s not the best system, but it is the reality of large scale agriculture these days.
As the article mentions, depending too much on a single species can be risky. If there is a disease or pest outbreak in the hives, or in the fields, or problems from chemical application, that could have dramatic impacts of yearly yields.
The article also rightly says ”There’s no long-term, very accurate, precise sampling of bees all over the world,” , and ” Nevertheless, he cautions, the records that underpin the study don’t give us enough information to determine if certain species have gone extinct.”
Even with my nitpicks, I applaud National Geographic here. This is one of the more balanced articles I’ve seen on the topic of bee populations. Many of them are either purposely or ignorantly disingenuous.
I still have some nitpicks, but this article is a bit more balanced & honest than most, for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, because they admit up front, that the majority of pollination in farms comes from ‘managed’ bee hives, offered up as a service by commercial bee keepers. Many articles never mention this, and present the subject as if all crops are pollinated by wild bees.
Secondly, despite the title, the article clearly states that the science and observations on the subject are not well understood. Obviously wild pollinators supplement the managed honey bee hives, but I’ve never heard of any study that tries to measure the impact of wild pollinators have, compared to managed hives.
I think it’s safe to say the large majority of pollination comes from commercial honey bee keepers. For a point of reference, in the US according to the ‘National Honey Board’, ”The USDA has estimated that 80 percent of insect crop pollination is accomplished by honey bees”.
https://honey.com/newsroom/presskit/honey-industry-facts
Also, it is important to remember many crops do not need pollinators. When this article states right off the bat that bees ”pollinate 85 percent of food crops and fruits around the world”, this is slightly misleading.
They really mean bees pollinate 85% of crops and fruits that require pollination. The statement that 85% of all crops require pollination to grow would be incorrect.
With all that said, let me be clear. I’m not trying to be an apologist, or say any of this news is ‘okay’, it’s not. We see these articles all the time now for good reason, because it is super important to protect bees and other pollinators.
But commercial honey bee keepers need to be given credit for the invaluable and important work that they do by providing their hives to increase production in agriculture. They are the true champions. It’s not the best system, but it is the reality of large scale agriculture these days.
As the article mentions, depending too much on a single species can be risky. If there is a disease or pest outbreak in the hives, or in the fields, or problems from chemical application, that could have dramatic impacts of yearly yields.
The article also rightly says ”There’s no long-term, very accurate, precise sampling of bees all over the world,” , and ” Nevertheless, he cautions, the records that underpin the study don’t give us enough information to determine if certain species have gone extinct.”
Even with my nitpicks, I applaud National Geographic here. This is one of the more balanced articles I’ve seen on the topic of bee populations. Many of them are either purposely or ignorantly disingenuous.