Honey is Money

...and it's worth A LOT of money. In addition to bringing in annual incomes to our bee keepers around the world, honey bees add substantial amounts to our agricultural systems. According to Kim Kaplin, USDA agricultural research service specialist, "honey bee pollination is critical to United States agriculture, adding more than $15 billion to the value of American crops per year." Seeing that honey bees are responsible for a whole lot of crop pollination and that bees rely on flowers and crops for food, farming and bee keeping have a very intimate relationship. Whether it be a thousand acre commercial almond grove or a ten by ten foot backyard vegetable garden, both types of operations need bees for pollination. Fortunately for us, bee keepers and farmers form partnerships across the country to make sure that this pollination occurs. While most of our honey production comes from larger scale commercial bee keeping, some of it also comes from smaller bee keeping organizations. Although small, these bee keepers are essential to a healthy sustainable agricultural system and they need our support! New York Times writer, Tammy La Gorce, writes an article outlining the importance of this partnership in her article "I'll borrow your farm, you keep my bees". It gives very good insights to local bee keeping and I highly recommend reading it if you are interested in this kind of thing.

Here it is: I'll Borrow your Farm, you Keep my Bees
For more information on local bee keeping organizations, check out Tassot Apiaries, a small bee keeping organization in New Jersey.

Works Cited:

Kaplin, Kim. "Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses / May 19, 2009 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service." ARS : Home. Agricultural Research Service, 19 May 2009. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. <http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090519.htm>.