Why Are Honeybees Important?

Honeybees are some of the hardest workers on our planet. These buzzing insects do much more than make honey. They are key helpers in growing many foods we eat every day.

The main job of honeybees is pollination. As bees fly from flower to flower looking for sweet nectar, tiny bits of pollen stick to their fuzzy bodies. When they visit the next flower, some of this pollen rubs off. This helps plants make seeds and grow fruits or veggies.

Honeybees pollinate more than 90 different food crops. These include apples, almonds, blueberries, cucumbers, and many more. In fact, about one-third of the food we eat needs help from bees! Without honeybees, these foods would be very rare and cost a lot more money.

Almond trees rely on honeybees the most. These trees cannot make nuts without pollen from another almond tree. Every year, beekeepers move over a million bee colonies to California just to pollinate almond trees. This is the largest bee event in the world!

Besides food crops, honeybees also pollinate many wildflowers and plants that feed wildlife. They help keep our world green and full of life. Bees even pollinate cotton plants, which helps us make clothes.

Honeybees are special because they can be kept in hives and moved to farms that need help with pollination. One hive can hold up to 60,000 bees! Also, while other pollinators may visit just a few types of flowers, honeybees visit many different kinds.

Today, honeybees face many threats. Mites and diseases can make bees sick. Chemicals used to kill bugs on farms can harm bees too. Loss of flowers gives bees less food to eat. When we help honeybees, we help ourselves and our food supply.

Fun fact: A single honeybee will make only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its whole life, but a strong hive can make over 100 pounds of honey in a year!