With the decline in global bee populations making apocalyptic headlines, surely raising them - even if it is to take their honey - is a good thing? We take a look at the full and grim picture of the relationship between nature’s sweetest nectar and the world around us.

Honey is often seen as one of those grey areas when it comes to veganism, especially with the misconception that bees aren’t exploited to the same degree as other animals and that it’s actually good for the environment to encourage growth in bee populations. On closer inspection, however, it really is more black and white than opponents of the vegan lifestyle would hope.

Let’s not diminish the importance of bees - we know that populations are dropping the world over. They are indeed vital pollinators of many crops that we depend on for food, and without bees we would face an unprecedented food production crisis. We are seeing signs of this crisis looming with decreasing numbers of local pollinators, or crops simply not being pollinated. But not all pollinators are created equally - in fact the population of honey bees specifically has increased 45% in the last 50 years, as this study published in Current Biology shows.

This begs the question: if honey bee populations are on the increase, yet the evidence shows that our crops are in trouble, what’s really going on?

Not all bees pollinate the same species of plants, and not all bees are all that good at pollinating. Such is the case with honey bees, which are enormously efficient at returning pollen to their hives, but without stopping off at other plants to pollinate them on the way. Compared to wild bees, honey bees are pretty terrible pollinators according to researchers, which makes a lot of sense as they’re bred and raised to do one thing only, and one thing well - make honey for humans.

As Ed points out in our video on why vegans don’t eat honey, taking only the UK as our example, there are around 270 species of bees with honey bees being just one of those. They compete directly with our wild bees for nectar and pollen, and contribute relatively little to the cycle of pollination on which our food crops depend while outcompeting those who do.

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Add to this the pressure placed on wild plants - with wild bees being pushed out by unnaturally large honey bee populations, few wild flowers are pollinated. Fewer wild flowers means less food for wild bees, and a negative feedback loop is created. Honey bees are not pollinators of agricultural food crops, or if they are it is very limited. We need wild bee populations, and all their many different species, to pollinate the wide range of plants we consume.

To learn more about the environmental issues associated with honey bee farming, as well as the many ethical problems to do with the way the queens are inseminated and have their wings clipped, please watch the latest video from Surge.

FURTHER READING

• The Global Stock of Domesticated Honey Bees Is Growing Slower Than Agricultural Demand for Pollination (Current Biology)

• Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance (Science)

• Do managed bees have negative effects on wild bees?: A systematic review of the literature (journals.plos.org)

• Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers (Science)

• Local bumble bee decline linked to recovery of honey bees, drought effects on floral resources (Ecology Letters)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Gough is Media & Education Coordinator for Surge.