I got some bad news for all the hard core strict vegans out there. Even if you aren’t consuming honey you are consuming food that wouldn’t be here without the apiarists. And apiarist, for those who don’t know, is a fancy word for a beekeeper.
The commercial production of produce on the level that brings food to your grocery store is dependent on the rental of beehives for polination. Bee populations do not exist naturally to polinate all the crops being produced. So orchard owners and the like pay to have commercial beehives brought in to insure succesful yields every year. In fact, there is more money being made in whoring out bees to the agriculture industry than there is to be made in harvesting the honey. But I’m not saying that honey isn’t harvested.
The transportation of mobile hives all over the country has contributed to interbreeding of bees from all over and an increase in transmission of diseases from hive to hive. This “necessary” trade increases the chances of? a single disease or pathogen dessimating large numbers of bees across the nation. And if you are playing along at home, that would lead to famine.
We are all “benefitting” from commercial beekeeping. We are all in danger because of it. So what are we to do?
I propose that vegans take up beekeeping. Go on with your aversion to honey. No need to harvest it, I suppose. I don’t care one way or another. But if more people kept bees (especially if you live in regions that are heavily agricultural) then there would be less of a need for mobile hives. I’m especially looking at you Californians. Nearly every mobile hive in the US makes a stop in California for the Almond industry. If those of us who lived near orchards and farms kept a healthy local population of bees then we could help to protect bees nationwide from falling to a single pathogen. Maybe you don’t want to be a beekeeper. Well then maybe you should think about reaching out to local beekeeping organizations and seeing how you can help encourage local beekeeping and inquire on how to insure that those bees stay local.
I’m always hearing other vegans say that they are the ultimate environmentalists. We all know that eating local produce is better for the environment and the local economy. How is it any different with bees?
Look, I don’t have the answers. I have an answer. But it may not be your answer. Obviously, unless we all grow absolutely everything we eat then we are passively accepting (and even encouraging) many non-vegan industries. If anything this is food for thought. So feed your thoughts.
Brilliant post! You have given me a lot to think about…
If you have a big yard and a few hundred dollars to spare to get started, I totally agree that you should keep bees. They are really cool and amazing. There is even a Beekeeping for Dummies book. You can have the honey (I personally think) too because it does not hurt them at all if you manage them properly and don’t get greedy and take too much. I used to have two beehives before I moved to crummy suburbia and I am definitely going to have them again when I leave crummy suburbia…
A friend of mine that lives right here in central Illinois sends semi loads of bees to California multiple times every year for different crop seasons. He could make plenty of money off of the local farms but California pays him too much to pass up, it’s crazy.
Hopefully people like you spreading the word can help rectify the problem before global famine does accrue.
What a ridiculously awesome idea.
You could go one step farther and organize state by state outfits that will make starter colonies to sell. Non profit of course, could be a huge blow to the big industry. Great post, you brilliant woman you.
Definitely gave me some food for thought. We plan to own a farm one day in order to care for some rescued farm animals, and maybe beekeeping will be on our list too- for whatever reason I never thought about beekeeping without taking the honey but I see now (obviously) it’s the same as owning chickens without eating their eggs etc etc. I agree this issue is a very multi-faceted one and it needs a *lot* more consideration. Thanks for a great post.
Check this article out.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427316.800-the-truth-about-the-disappearing-honeybees.html
however things are done in the UK, the simple fact is that the mobile hive industry exists for a reason. I live rural and near large orchards and see the owners import dozens of hives for pollination every year. As my friend Steve mentioned even bees from Illinois are sent to California. And the main Californian industry reliant on mobile hives is the almond industry. What would us vegans do without our nuts?
The article states that staple foods “wheat, rice and corn” aren’t reliant on bees for pollination. And while I do like my “wheat meat”, if wheat rice and corn were all I ate I wouldn’t be as concerned. And as I read the article I saw it refer to Cashews as a luxury food item that would be affected by not enough bees. goodbye cashew cheese.
The article also states the bee colonies are on the rise, but in other countries. That is because we are becoming a nation that survives on imports. That is fundamentally wrong. It’s great that Asia has a bunch of bees. It’s great that Asia has a booming agricultural industry… for Asia Not so great for us.
I actually laughed when the article mentioned 70% of the most productive crops aren’t reliant on bees for polination. It was as though the fact that 30% was a nominal easy to dismiss number. And when they said the complete disappearance of bees would lead to a loss of only 4 to 6% of food produced I balked. even 1% loss would be devastating in parts of the world.
I think I got a different message from that article than the authors intended. My concern remains the same. My assertions are still the same. But thank you for the link.
Yes, we should be thankful to the apiarist, without them we got nothing to store in the market place and something to buy like honey, or any foods that has honey.