did you know
The Benefits
of Honey Bees
and Honey
By Dannis Warf, Associate Certified
Entomologist, Royal Pest Solutions
Lately, I’m sure you’ve
heard all the buzz about
bees in the news. There
are so many concerns about
bees dying, colony collapse,
and losing our pollinators.
I’m from the Midwest,
America’s Farmland, so
this is an issue that is near
and dear to my heart(land).
The farming industry is very
dependent on bees and other
insect pollinators. Most
staple crops such as wheat,
rice, potatoes and corn are
self- or wind-pollinated, but
approximately 70% of
the most widely grown
fruits in the world rely
on insect pollination. Bees
and other insects pollinate
the hundreds of thousands of
acres of crops we depend on
to fuel our food supply in the
United States and the world.
HONEY BEES ARE
POLLINATING MACHINES
Honey bees are pollinators,
which means they move the
pollen grains from the anther
(the male germ cell of a plant)
to the to the stigma (the female
reproductive system in seed
plants). This process is vital
because it allows plants to
reproduce, and it fertilizes cropbearing plants so that they will
yield food.
There are many plants and
flowers where the anther and
stigma mature at different times.
Sometimes the pollen can be
moved by the wind, but for the
most part, pollen must be spread
from flower to flower by insects
so that new fruit can be formed.
The pollen of cotton, alfalfa, blueberries, raspber