To Bee or Not to Bee: The Global Impact of Pollinator Decline
Honeybees are in effect six-legged livestock that both manufacture agricultural commodities—honey and wax—and, more importantly, contribute agricultural services—pollination.
—May Berenbaum, American entolomologist
Honeybees as Chief Pollinators
Bees play a vital role in agriculture. Over the years, researchers have proven the correlation between naturalized and feral pollinators and the production of local and acclimatized crops. Most local produce benefit from migratory beekeeping. Almonds, for example, are 100 percent dependent on honeybees for pollination. Cherries are 90 percent dependent. And just to show how important bees are to local and international economy, bees pollinate essentially most of vegetables, spices, nuts, fruits, and flowers anyone can name. Converted in numbers, that is equivalent to US crop production worth $15 billion annually.
Crops are being grown in less farmland, yet increased yields and high-quality produce is evident. These qualities are attributed to honeybees. Today, California almond crop contributes 80 percent of the world’s supply. Here’s a summarized data from obamawhitehouse.com.
Economic Importance of Pollinators:
Insect pollination is integral to food security in the United States. Honeybees enable the production of at least 90 commercially grown crops in North America. Globally, 87 of the leading 115 food crops evaluated are dependent on animal pollinators, contributing 35 percent of global food production.
Pollinators contribute more than $24 billion to the United States economy, of which honeybees account for more than $15 billion through their vital role in keeping fruits, nuts, and vegetables in our diets.
Native wild pollinators, such as bumblebees and alfalfa leafcutter bees, also contribute substantially to the domestic economy. In 2009, the crop benefits from native insect pollination in the United States were valued at more than $9 billion.
At one time, honey drove this industry. Now it’s pollen. Every third bite we take is from a bee-pollinated nut or flower.
—Richard Adee, prominent beekeeper in the United States
The Consequences of Pollinator Decline
But what happens when the leading pollinator deteriorate in number?
Gallai et al. evaluated the consequences of the pollinator decline throughout the world. They calculated that in 2005, 9.5 percent of world agricultural production for human consumption embodies the €153 billion of the global economic value of pollination. Without considering the behavior of the consumers, the group found out the following:
There was a positive correlation between the rate of vulnerability to pollinators’ decline of a crop category and its value per production unit. Looking at the capacity to nourish the world population after pollinator loss, the production of 3 crop categories—namely fruits, vegetables, and stimulants—will clearly be below the current consumption level at the world scale and even more so for certain regions like Europe.
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.
—Maurice Maeterlinck
Taking Action, Saving Honeybees
In June 2014, a presidential memorandum was released in response to decreasing pollinator race. Read more about Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.
The government is doing its part. When are you going to do yours?
A healthy beekeeping industry is invaluable to a healthy US agricultural economy.
—American Beekeeping Federation
References
Gallai, Nicola, et al. 2009. “Economic Valuation of the Vulnerability of World Agriculture Confronted with Pollinator Decline,” Ecological Economics 68(3): 810-821. Accessed March 17, 2017. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.06.014.
Calderone, Nicholas W. 2012. “Insect Pollinated Crops, Insect Pollinators and US Agriculture: Trend Analysis of Aggregate Data for the Period 1992–2009,” PLOS ONE 7(5): e37235 . Accessed March 17, 2017. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037235.
Aslan, Clare E. 2016. “The Role of Honey Bees as Pollinators in Natural Areas,” Natural Areas Journal 36(4): 478–488. doi: 10.3375/043.036.0413. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3375/043.036.0413.
American Beekeeping Industry. n.d. “Pollination Facts.” Accessed March 22, 2017. http://www.abfnet.org/?page=14.
New Agriculturist on-line. n.d. “The Benefit of Bee.” Accessed March 22, 2017. http://www.new-ag.info/00-5/focuson/focuson8.html.
The Nature Conservancy. n.d. “Learn How Bees Play an Important Role in Agriculture.” Accessed March 22, 2017. https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/indiana/journeywithnature/bees-agriculture.xml.
Hackett, Kevin J. 2004. n.d. “Bee Benefits to Agriculture.” Accessed March 22, 2017. https://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/ar/archive/2004/mar/form0304.pdf.
Sharp, Jay W. n.d. “The Honeybees’ Role in Agriculture.” Accessed March 23, 2017. http://www.desertusa.com/insects/honey-bee-and-agriculture.html.
Holland, Nick. n.d. “The Economic Value of Honeybees,” BBC News. Accessed March 23, 2017. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8015136.stm.
The post To Bee or Not to Bee: The Global Impact of Pollinator Decline appeared first on Picky The Marvelous Chicken.
