Bee aware, your food’s in the air: Celebrating the buzz on World Bee Day

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — When a bee buzzes by, your first instinct is usually to swat it away.

But in reality, we should stop to think about the importance of bees and the roles they play in the environment – and that’s exactly what World Bee Day is all about.

Bee is for biodiversity.

Bees are more than just small honey collectors, they are one of the world’s most important pollinators for plants and agricultural crops.

In fact, a third of the world’s food production depends on pollinators like bees.

Other than make honey for people to eat and themselves to eat, they do a lot of food pollination that is actually worth a lot more than the honey itself.

Owner of Ebert Honey Farm, Adam Ebert says.

Though – bee populations are in crisis and continue to weaken due to disease, climate change, and the use of pesticides. This highlights the urgent need for their conservation and protection.

And without bees, the availability and diversity of food and produce would decline.

They’re the only pollinators that we can take from place to place, in a way that’s really useful for crop pollination for food supply. So the main threat is actually to human food supply more than anything else.

Though they’re hated for their stings, bees provide a critical link between people and agriculture, and help our environment thrive. Plus, their honey is pretty sweet too!

There are many things we as individuals can do to support and help protect bees:

• Support local farms by buying raw honey products
• Buy products from sustainable agricultural practices
• Avoid pesticides in your gardens
• Plant a diverse set of native plants in your gardens
• Sponsor a bee hive
• Raise awareness by sharing information within your community