What do bees do?
If I asked you which are the most important food producing animals, it is very likely that very few would think of bees, instead they are considered the third most economically important animal after cattle and pigs. They outnumber even chickens.
We are also used to thinking of them as a single insect but by now they must be considered a complex organism with well-defined roles and functions between workers, queen and drones that in balance with each other like a perfect machine, produce, reproduce and provide for their own maintenance. Their third place in the ranking might surprise us only if we did not consider that in addition to all the honey they produce in a year, they are crucial for the existence of many fruits, smoothies, jams, vegetables, soups and all kinds of derivatives. Bees, along with other insects, pollinate 70% of all plants in the world !! In Italy there are more than a million beehives and more than 65,000 beekeepers.
How is a hive made?
Inside the hive there are two levels: the “super” the upper one and the “nest” the lower one. In the first, bees store honey and it is the only one on which the beekeeper works. In the “nest, on the other hand, the larvae live, the queen who lays the eggs and through the grid that separates it from the upper level, the worker bees pass to deposit the stocks of honey for the winter. When humans collect honey, they do not disturb all the precious contents of the “nest”.
What does the beekeeper do?
The beekeeper is a very special breeder because he is one of the few who does not exploit or kill the animals he works with. On the contrary, it establishes a symbiotic relationship through which man interprets the signals of the environment to put the bee colonies in the best conditions to thrive and be able to produce their nectar.
The bee and the environment.
This ratio is fundamental in determining the type of honey, since there are as many different flavors and smells as there are blends and specialties of the flowers. The bee can fly up to 3 kilometers away from its hive although in most cases, as long as it finds enough flowers and nectar, it remains nearby. The bee can fly up to 3 kilometers away from its hive although in most cases, as long as it finds enough flowers and nectar, it remains nearby. By reversing the reasoning, we can think of bees as bio indicators of the health of the environment, because through the analysis of their production we are able to have a very clear idea of the state of the surrounding places. The effectiveness and economic value of the work of removing the plant world that bees carry out with pollination for the 150 botanical species useful to humans are already known. Together with other insects, they also play a role with incalculable benefits in favor of another 350,000 botanical species thanks to which the planet’s biodiversity is ensured. Italy is the European country with the highest number of plant species, it is up to all of us to do everything to preserve this heritage. If it is true that man was primarily responsible for endangering bees, it is through man himself that they can be safeguarded and repopulated. It is necessary to build habitats protected from pesticides, control parasites with natural methods and use organic products. Buying local honey from organic farms is the most concrete gesture that each person can do to support the care and repopulation of this species.
