May 20, 2026 is World Bee Day!
“Bee engaged in pollinator-friendly agricultural production” is the 2026 theme of the United Nations-designated day first observed in 2017. The focus of education and involvement is on a wide variety of bees and the importance of understanding the threats and needed protection of bees, other pollinators and their habitats. Urgent action is needed to support pollinator-friendly agricultural production, particularly through evidence-based practices. Bees are important for us who care about hunger issues, as well as those of us who are intent on caring for God’s creation.
Bees not only pollinate wildflowers but are also crucial to crops. It is estimated that bees and other pollinators pollinate almost 90% of flowering plants and 70% of the world’s main crops. Today, more than 90 crops rely on honey bees for pollination, providing one-third of the food that we Americans eat. Of course we want to keep on eating! For that, we need those bees.
And then there is the other job of the busy bees: the making of honey. Bees produce about $400 million worth of honey in the U.S. each year. Beeswax is also an important product and used for making candles, for wood and leather polishes, and refined beeswax.
Here’s the buzz! There really is no need to fear those wonderful bees — in fact, we need them badly. There are almost 20,000 species of bees in the world. Our most familiar bee, the common honeybee, is one of the 10 types of honey bees around the world. Our common honeybee lives in colonies of around 50,000-60,000 female worker bees, whose job it is to clean the hive, collect the pollen and nectar to feed the colony, and care for the bee offspring. A single queen in the colony lays the eggs, which are fertilized by the male drone.
Bee informed, inform others, and continue to protect our bee neighbors!
Learn more about World Bee Day here.
Vernita Kennen
Incarnation, Shoreview
