Did you know that 2/3 of the bees colonies in the US travel the country pollinating crops and making honey and beeswax!
Migratory pollination is how most commercial beekeepers make money. These beekeepers embark on momentous journeys to pollinate crops, access better forage and seek favorable wintering conditions for their bees.
A Huge bee population is transported across the country each year and their pollinating services are rented out. As the honey bees gather pollen and nectar from blooms they pollinate crops like apples, cranberries, melons, and broccoli. Crops like blueberries and cherries would not produce fruit without bee pollination.
The Bees make the circuit yearly, in the spring half of the bee colonies are transported to California to pollinate one million acres of almond trees during their blossom time. The next stop is New York to pollinate apple trees, next to Maine for blueberries, to Massachusetts for cranberries, and then back to the South for the winter. Rather than relying on the wind for pollination the bees help the crops produce more fruit, development is more uniform, berries ripen faster, and often the quality is better.
Of course, there are also wild bees and the 1/3 of the bee colony population that stays local. Those bees often search for good food. We can help them along by planting the trees suggested on the chart below.
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