We have already mentioned that bee pollination of entomophilic agricultural crops, such as rapeseed, sunflower, buckwheat, phacelia, mustard, sweet clover, clover and others, increases the seed productivity of plants and, accordingly, the yield.
In the middle of the last century, people carried out experiments to increase the nectar release of melliferous crops with the help of fertilizers.
Fertilizers played a dual role in this study. On the one hand, they increased the number of flowers of plants, and on the other hand, they increased the sugar content of the nectar in the period of flowering. The plants used fertilizers to be as attractive to pollinators as possible, providing them with even more flowers to pollinate and sweeter nectar to get. After all, the main goal of any plant is to create as many seeds with a large supply of nutrients as possible. The main helpers are, of course, pollinators.
Therefore, when using fertilizers, the farmer must realize that in order to get good yield, he should also use honey bees in addition to the fertilizers. In other words, fertilizers are a waste of money without bees. Indeed, if there is no one to help the plant to form grain, then what for using fertilizers at all? So, it turns out that the farmer himself can have a direct benefit from supporting beekeeping. After all, the more bees, the higher the yield of rapeseed, sunflower, buckwheat, seeds of perennial grasses, and other crops.
This simple connection between bees and yield has long been learned by colleagues from Western countries. In the United States, for example, about 1.8 million bee colonies are exported annually to almond plantations in California - this is about 2/3 of all bees in the United States. Of course, such cooperation gives good benefits to both almond growers and beekeepers. However, other farmers, that also need the process of pollination of their lands, experience a lack of pollinators, as most bees are taken to almond fields. This is the problem in the USA - there are not enough bees! The importance of bees for agriculture is recognized at the official level. For example, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture names the honey bee as no less than the official agricultural insect of state on its website.
In the UK, hive rental services are ordered through the National Pollination Service. British farmers choose a beekeeper there, conclude a contract for the service and receive their profits from pollination. In 2019, a sociological survey among farmers were carried out across Europe. It showed that almost half of the farmers, taking part in the survey, experience a lack of pollination services for one or more variants of crops. Almost a third order pollination services on their lands. These are just a few examples of how farmers in the West are using bees to increase their yields.
Obviously, a clever farmer knows how money is made. He realizes the benefits and is prudent about all his investments in the future yield. So, he brings bees to his fields in order to maximize the crop yield and fertilizers applied, and pesticides as well.
And what about farmers and large holdings that do not use bees to increase fertilizer payback and yields? Pesticides prevent them from doing it. It turns out that the use of pesticides, which kill bees, reduces the effectiveness of fertilizers, which, by the way, cost a lot of money. And how do other farmers manage to use pesticides and increase yields with the help of bees?! That is a real question!
We hope that all farmers will be able to solve this riddle. It would be nice if they did it before the honeybees disappear. Otherwise, there will be another question, much more unpleasant, unfortunately. How many billions will it cost to renew beekeeping in the country. And will it be possible?
