If you’ve eaten today, there’s a very good chance you have bees to thank for it.
From the avocado on your toast to the almonds in your granola, the berries in your smoothie, and even the steaming coffee in your mug… bees play a huge role in keeping our food system alive. And yet, most of us rarely stop to think about them.
World Bee Day on the 20th of May is a chance to celebrate these tiny workers that quietly keep our farms, gardens, and ecosystems functioning every single day.
Because without bees, our plates would look very different.
Why Bees Matter So Much
Bees are pollinators. That means they help plants reproduce by moving pollen from one flower to another. It sounds simple, but this process is absolutely essential for growing food.
In fact, around one-third of the world’s food production depends on pollinators like bees. Things like:
- Apples
- Avocados
- Berries
- Cucumbers
- Pumpkins
- Almonds
- Tomatoes
- Watermelon
- Coffee
- Citrus fruits
…all rely heavily on pollination.
Without bees, many crops would produce far less food, and some wouldn’t grow at all.
But it’s not just about quantity. Bee pollination also improves the quality of crops, helping produce grow larger, healthier, and more evenly.
So while bees may be small, their impact on our food system is enormous.
The Bigger Problem Facing Bees
The worrying part is that bee populations around the world are under pressure.
Modern industrial agriculture has created a pretty tough environment for pollinators. Things like pesticide use, habitat destruction, monocropping, climate change, and lack of flowering diversity all make life harder for bees.
And when you actually look at the numbers, it’s pretty confronting.
Some commonly used pesticides are toxic to bees in nanogram quantities. A nanogram is one billionth of a gram.
Research on the neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin found that the oral lethal dose for honeybees is around 2.8–3.7 nanograms per bee. Another commonly used pesticide, imidacloprid, has been shown to have lethal doses as low as 3.7–5 nanograms per bee.
To put that into perspective, one agricultural report noted that a single pesticide-treated corn seed can contain enough neonicotinoid active ingredient to kill more than 80,000 honeybees.
But what’s even more concerning is that bees don’t necessarily need a fully lethal dose to be harmed.
Studies have shown that even low-level exposure can interfere with:
- Navigation
- Memory and learning
- Foraging behaviour
- Immune function
- Queen production
- Overall colony survival
In some cases, bees exposed to tiny amounts simply struggle to find their way back to the hive.
And when bees struggle, our food system becomes more vulnerable too.
That’s one of the reasons why supporting smaller-scale, environmentally conscious farming matters so much. Healthy ecosystems create healthier conditions for pollinators, which ultimately leads to healthier food systems for everyone.
What Supporting Bees Actually Looks Like
Protecting bees doesn’t have to mean becoming a beekeeper yourself (although you should, if that’s what you fancy).
Sometimes it looks like:
- Choosing food grown without heavy chemical use
- Supporting local farmers who prioritise biodiversity
- Planting flowering herbs and native plants
- Letting parts of your garden flower naturally
- Buying honey from ethical beekeepers who genuinely care for their bees
And that brings us to one of our favourite local producers…
Meet Bellmere Honey 🍯
At Joy Wholefoods, we love supporting producers who work with nature rather than against it — and that’s exactly why we stock honey from Bellmere Honey.
Based right here in Queensland, Bellmere Honey are passionate about producing raw local honey while caring properly for the bees that make it all possible.
Rather than treating bees as little production machines, they focus on ethical, sustainable beekeeping practices that prioritise hive health and natural bee behaviour.
That means:
- Allowing bees to keep enough of their own honey stores
- Carefully managing hive health
- Respecting natural seasonal cycles
- Producing raw honey with minimal processing
- Supporting healthy local pollination ecosystems
- And honestly, you can taste the difference.
Good honey should reflect the landscape it comes from - the seasons, the flowers, the region, the care taken along the way. It’s one of those foods that reminds you nature already knows exactly what it’s doing.
More Than Just Honey
One of the beautiful things about supporting ethical beekeepers is that you’re supporting something much bigger than a jar of honey.
You’re helping protect pollinators.
You’re supporting biodiversity.
You’re encouraging farming systems that work in partnership with nature instead of constantly trying to overpower it.
And in a world where so much of our food system has become disconnected from the natural environment, that matters more than ever.
So this World Bee Day, maybe take a moment to appreciate the tiny workers behind so much of the food we eat every day.
The buzz of a bee might seem small… but the impact certainly isn’t. 🐝
References
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Global Action on Pollination Services for Sustainable Agriculture. Available at: FAO Pollination Services
- Iowa State University Extension. Insecticidal Seed Treatments Can Harm Honey Bees. Available at: Iowa State University Extension Article
- Fairbrother, A., Purdy, J., Anderson, T. & Fell, R. (2014). Risks of Neonicotinoid Insecticides to Honeybees. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 33(4), 719–731. Available at: PubMed Central Article
- Codling, G., Al Naggar, Y., Giesy, J.P. & Robertson, A.J. (2016). Concentrations of Neonicotinoid Insecticides in Honey, Pollen and Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.) in Central Saskatchewan, Canada. Science of The Total Environment, 565, 232–241. Available at: ScienceDirect Article
- NSW Department of Primary Industries. Pollination and Bees. Available at: NSW DPI Pollination and Bees
- Gauthier, M., et al. (2018). Chronic Exposure to Imidacloprid or Thiamethoxam Neonicotinoid Causes Oxidative Damages and Alters Carbohydrate Metabolism in Honey Bees. Environmental Pollution, 241, 1068–1078. Available at: PubMed Article
