Wild Bees
Hi Elizabeth-
I read the vegan page as well and was …ummm….puzzled. Don’t buy these products, but buy instead these products - ummmm….it’s still marketing, capitalism, etc. like it or not. Niche marketing? I am a beekeeper of honeybees but I also am a doctoral student working in agro ecological restoration to help increase the populations of wild bees. They do contribute waaaay more than managed bees, in fact bumblebees alone are the main pollinators of pumpkin, tomatoes, potatoes and squash. These native bees coevolved with our native food crops for which the honeybee doesn’t recognize (they’ve only been here since 1600’s) and isn’t adapted for. So, while the “exploitation” of honeybees is an issue for industrial farming, the wild bees are the ones, with the help of managed bees, who are aiding the popularity of small to mid-size farms and orchards. Agro ecology is a growing field of ecology and agronomy, and the PA farmers I work with who run CSA’s and dairy operations (even urban farmers in Baltimore) will attest to the robustness of wild bee populations on wild-managed farms. I don’t know if you’ll get this comment, since its been a while since this posting, but thanks for posting on this. What an interesting discussion.
Peggy - The Wild Bee Chronicles
