National Beekeeping Centre Wales

Bees pollinate about a third of everything we eat and play a vital role in sustaining our ecosystems. More than 3/4 of crops grown for human consumption need to be pollinated by bees and honeybees account for 80% of all insect pollination.These include most fruits and vegetables, many nuts, and plants such as rapeseed that are turned into oil, as well as cocoa beans, coffee and tea. And it’s not only food crops but fodder crops for livestock and crops such as cotton that rely on bee pollination as well. In economic terms, honybee pollination could be worth as much as £200m to the UK alone and $170bn globally. But no monetary value can be put on the contribution bees make to ecosystems around the world or on our relationship with them which goes back for thousands of years. Honeybee and other insect pollinators face a series of natural and man-made threats. Without the work of commercial, and in particular amateur, beekeepers, their very survival could be in jeopardy. Everyone - including you - can play a part to help bees flourish.