graze the bees! Campaigns are being held all over the world to support these little furry and inconspicuous workers. Threats to prevent the disappearance of bees are heard more and more often. You do not even suspect how much bees influence our world, especially agriculture and related business. Here is a list of ten items, handpicked by Sydney Sower, that can disappear with the bees.
World food supply
We all know well that bees are an important part of the pollination process and the work of agriculture, but few think about the extent of this importance. Today, there are 100 major crop varieties around the world, which together make up 90% of human food. Apples, bananas, avocados, corn. Bees are the primary pollination agent for 70% of these crops. About 63% of our diet is directly dependent on bees.
Although there are many other pollinators, their impact is negligible compared to bees. Bats, for example, are the next most important pollinator, but prefer plants with dull flowers. These boring crops like agave, guava, figs make up a much smaller percentage of the global food market and won't be enough to support seven billion people - unless we massively switch to Fijian pudding.
Coffee industry
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In addition to a variety of fruits and vegetables, bees are also the main pollinators of coffee. Therefore, without bees, the supply of coffee in our world would be reduced and the industry would lose its profitability. At first glance, this seems counterintuitive: caffeine is not a human “need”, and the end of coffee should not mean the end of humanity. But an astounding amount of the world's industry lies in the production and sale of coffee.
In 2016 alone, Starbucks generated $ 21.3 billion in gross profit. As of May 2017, there were 245,000 employees in this chain. Coffee also remains a valuable product in Latin America, especially in Guatemala, where most of the population is tied to the coffee industry. Without bees, the multinational coffee empire will collapse and leave hundreds of thousands of people unemployed around the world.
Halloween with pumpkins and pumpkin porridge
Bees and bumblebees are the main pollinators of pumpkins. Unlike the usual harvest, pumpkins are most often grown in small villages in small vegetable gardens. Farmers harvest about 1.5 billion kilograms of pumpkins every year.
Given the variety of crops that farmers typically grow, the loss of pumpkins will be a heavy but replete blow to their farm. Still, for the Halloween industry, where 170 million consumers spend about $ 850 million annually on pumpkin head carving, the pumpkin shortage will be a big blow. The seasonal business on Halloween will disappear, and lovers of sweet and cheap pumpkin porridge will be very upset.
Textile industry
Cotton is one of the most popular fabric materials today. Historically, cotton has become the most popular flowering plant in American soil, and much of the country's history has been a direct consequence of the plant's influence. Today, 60% of women's and 75% of men's clothing contains cotton. More than half of all clothing is made from cotton materials.
As you may have guessed, bees pollinate most of the cotton. Without the bees, this material will disappear, and with it jeans and T-shirts. While in the developed world this inconvenience, in principle, could be experienced, in the underdeveloped parts of the world, where cotton fabric helps to keep the temperature cool in the hot sun and protect the skin, it will have a much stronger effect.
Nut industry
Honeybees are essential for growing many types of nuts, including almonds and cashews, among many others. The world's largest almond trading company - which accounts for 80% of the global market - highlights the importance of bees for pollination of their crops. In fact, the demand for bees is so high that the almond industry in the United States owns half of all bees.
Cashews are another popular type of nuts that bees cannot live without. In Africa, cashews grown with bee pollination yield twice the yield than artificially pollinated nuts. Thanks to the bees, family farms in these areas are doubling their wages and generating additional income on the side by selling honey and bees wax. If bees were to disappear, not only would global nut production drop significantly, but many micro-businesses in developing areas would cease to exist.
Biofuel industry
A promising trend in renewable energy sources is biofuels. It serves as a gas, but unlike it, it is not pumped out from the bowels, but is produced from various plants that are processed into ethanol. This new technology has the potential to revolutionize the fuel industry and create a more sustainable way to power transportation. Many companies, especially in Canada, prefer this type of energy.
Biofuels usually include ingredients pollinated by bees. For example, canola. Canola fuels are cold resistant and anti-corrosive, making them an ideal choice over other options. But, of course, canola oil cannot be produced without bees, which pollinate the plant and keep the species alive. If the bees die, the true biofuel industry dies too, filled not only with jobs but renewable solutions to the world's biggest problems.
Cargo transportation
Think about shipping, and fruits and vegetables will be the last thing that comes to your mind. In reality, however, they require many trucks and drivers who deliver them around the country fresh and whole.
How does this relate to bees? If the bees die, 70% of the most popular food will disappear. This will not only lead to hunger, but also to the collapse of the trucking industry. Trucks will transfer 70% less fruit and vegetables, which will result in serious disruption in the economic market.
Meat industry
To successfully raise cattle for slaughter, you need four things: compound feed, grain, oilseeds and bran. Grass, corn and wheat are self-pollinated by the wind, so they will be left without our pollinator friends. Bran can be made from anything, as long as you add nutrients. But we get oilseeds only from plants pollinated by bees like canola and sunflowers.
Of great importance to the meat industry is that, without these oilseeds, cattle cannot achieve their optimal weight and size. Oilseeds are the main source of protein for cows, making them big and tasty. Without them, cows will suffer from heart problems, wither, reproduce poorly, and eat land. Without a strong population of bees to pollinate these vital nutrients for livestock, not only will our fruit and vegetable stocks be reduced, but also our meat reserves.
World economy
The economy of a single country is not the only economic system that will suffer from the disappearance of bees. Other parts of the world are equally or even more dependent on bees. In many parts of Latin America, selling bananas supports the economy, for example. These countries export an average of 13 million tons of bananas annually, compared with 2 million tons from Asia and 600,000 tons from Africa.
In Asia, the main agricultural products are cotton, oilseeds and various fruits. They account for almost 4% of China's GDP. The African economy also thrives on unique types of fruits and vegetables, as well as agricultural products for the production of oils.
As you already understood, all of these crops are pollinated by bees and will die out when the bees leave. Honeybees alone provide $ 15 billion in annual harvests worldwide, and together with other bee species, this number reaches $ 30 billion in annual revenue. The loss of these pollinators will have disastrous consequences for the global economy and international trade, creating a series of diverse crises that will affect every part of the world.
Human race
All these large-scale negative consequences have led some scientists and engineers to conclude that humans cannot live long without bees. Many others are still skeptical of this theory, arguing that the disappearance of bees will not be a catastrophic event for humans, but will only cause economic hardship and possibly famine.
But a large group of other scientists argue that the disappearance of bees and humans go hand in hand. At the same time, people continue to destroy the habitat of these hairy insects. At the annual Earthwatch conference, scientists voted that bees are the most valuable species on our planet, ahead of mushrooms, plankton, bats and even primates. Without bees, the world would be completely different, and not for the better.
Ilya Khel