An eclectic group of people invaded the Iowa Capital this week, all buzzing over our small-but-mightiest of creatures, the honey bee. February 27 was Iowa Honey Bee Day, the second celebration of all-things-honey and coordinated by the Iowa Honey Producers Association.
The purpose of the celebration is to bring attention to the many contributions of honey bees in Iowa. More than 4,500 beekeepers manage about 45,000 colonies in the state, producing 4 million pounds of honey valued at more than $8 million.
But their biggest impact may be in pollination services, providing an estimated $92 million of economic value to Iowa crops.
That’s right – $92 million. We need honey bees to pollinate crops that provide food. Experts say that one of every three bites of food we eat requires pollination, most of that done by honey bees and native insects like bees and wasps.
In recent years, honey bee populations have been threatened by many stressors including chemicals in the environment, lack of habitat, pests and diseases. Iowa has an active apiary inspection program and a state apiarist whose job is to provide outreach and education for all types of beekeepers, from the commercial producer who may transport bees for pollinating crops in California, Texas and Florida, to the hobby beekeeper with only one or two backyard hives.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed an Iowa Honey Bee Declaration as did mayors in 28 Iowa cities including Ames, Marshalltown, Waterloo, West Des Moines and Council Bluffs.
The idea certainly is worth celebration. We need bees and bees need our help, too. We can help by planting a variety of native flowering plants to provide nectar and pollen for bees, buying local honey and support local beekeepers, and reducing or at least carefully applying chemicals on our lawns and gardens (apply during calm evenings when bees are not flying).
If you want to join the celebration, mark these other dates on your calendar:
National Pollinator Week, June 17-23, 2019
National Honey Bee Day, August 17, 2019
More information on the Iowa Honey Producers Association website.
Go, honey bees!
Bee Lady Honey 