Why are bees so important

 
 
tl_files/bienenschutzgarten/userdata/bienenfotos_diverse/Fotos_Austausch_d.signwerk/BG_warum_sind_die_bienen_so_wichtig.png
 
 

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF BEES?
 

A recent study has shown just how much the bee is worth on a monetary basis to some of the world’s agricultural economies, Europe rates the bee’s worth at 65 billion euros, Austria at 525 million euros and worldwide, bees are believed to be worth 100 to 200 billion euros. One third of the world’s food production is influenced directly or indirectly by the bees, not included in this estimate, is how much honey production and the production of other bee related products are worth. But do we believe that we can really estimate the value of the bees on our ecological system in hard cash?

Are bees just another form of livestock, used by our industrial agriculture and therefore just another business equation? There future and wellbeing decided by economic factors written on a piece of paper.

 
For millions of years the little bee and its ancestors have influenced the evolution of our earth, this significant fact can be seen when we now look and find that flowering plants and bees are now dependent on each other for their very survival. Flowering plants are the largest group of all land plants, and they need the pollen collectors for their propagation.. 

Today we know from the analysis of pollen samples from honey that honey bees pollinate up to 80% of all insect-pollinated plants. These include wild plants, and many crops such as beans, tomatoes, squash, broccoli, cucumbers, cherries, apricots, apples, pears, plums, berries, kiwi, mango, canola, red clover, alfalfa, nuts, sunflowers, avocado, watermelon, coffee and countless more.

Bee pollination ensures excellent seed quality, High yielding, fully developed high quality fruit. 

BEES ARE CREATING THE VERY FOUNDATION OF OUR FOOD PRODUCTION

With the decline of the wild bee as well as many other pollen collectors, wild plant species have seen a dramatic reduction, in some countries up to a 70% reduction within the last thirty years. Wild flora and fauna is increasingly dependent on the pollination work done by bees. Wild plants are an important part of the natural food chain and are needed to secure survival for many species. And now it is down to the honeybees, to make up for half of all the pollen collectors, who have now one way or another disappeared  and compensate for their failure in many areas. Honeybees can provide this unique pollination due to sheer numbers, a single bee hive can have up to 80.000 members, and a large number of these members will survive the hard winter months on their own honey stores. They are among the first insects that begin the spring pollination and they are among the most diligent of insects in their meticulous pollination of all plants. 

We know that there are 350.000 flowering plants in existence, and that their biodiversity is inextricably connected with bees. An estimated 20.000 different flower species that serve as food for bees, are in danger of disappearing in the next couple of decades.  

The global loss in biodiversity can be linked to the dramatic decline in numbers of wild bees, honey bees and other pollen collectors. These facts put together, give us a good indication to the seriousness of the situation, which is affecting our countryside and our farmlands.

BEES SERVE A MAJOR ROLE IN OUR ECOSYSTEM

Their extinction would have a huge effect on the ecological balance of our planet. Therefore, protecting the bees and ensuring their survival, is extremely important and needs to be undertaken by us all.

 

BEES - DEVINE SYMBOL

Bees also play a large part in our Mythological, cosmological and spiritual history. In many mythologies and religions the bee is a central divine symbol, a mediator between heaven and earth.

Rudolf Steiner, the founder of biodynamic agriculture is quoted as saying, “In a community of bees there is a spiritual force at work, and once a year, when the bees swarm, they connect with their cosmic force and this guides their earthly existence”.

 

We will welcome spring  in the Bee Sanctuary and being part of the ongoing cycle of life we will feel deeply connected with the bees.

tl_files/bienenschutzgarten/userdata/bienenfotos_diverse/DSC00026 1.JPG

„The bees give their honey and sweet-smelling wax to the man who attends them: but more precious gift still is their summoning him to the gladness of June, to the joy of the beautiful months; for events in which bees take part happen only when skies are pure, at the winsome hours of the year when flowers keep holiday. They are the soul of the summer, the clock whose dial records the moments of plenty; they are the untiring wing on which delicate perfumes float; the guide of the quivering light-ray, the song of the slumberous, languid air; and their flight is the token, the sure and melodious note, of all the myriad fragile joys that are born in the heat and dwell in the sunshine. 

They teach us to tune our ear to the softest, most initimate whisper of these good, natural hours. To him who has known them and loved them, a summer where there are no bees becomes as sad and as empty as one without flowers or birds".

- "The life of the bee" by Maurice Maeterlinck.