An American apiarist has emphasised the beneficial aspects of managing honeybee colonies close to fruit and vegetable plantations.
Mike Lawrence is a master beekeeper and co-owner of Hamburg Honey in Athens, Wisconsin.
He told local broadcaster WSAW-TV: “It’s not really a well-known fact that, if you have bees near your soybeans, you can actually have about a 15 per cent increase in yield from your soybeans.”
Bees are indispensable pollinators. Their activity is of great importance for local ecosystems and agricultural food production.
The annual global economic impact of the activity of honeybees and the various solitary bee species that exist around the world reportedly exceeds USD 100 billion (EUR 91 billion, GBP 78 billion).
Soybeans – which are native to East Asia – are one of the most common crops in the world. In 2020, more than 353 million tonnes of the legume were produced globally.
A recent study by scientists at Ohio State University identified soybeans as a popular nectar source for honeybees.
The researchers examined more than two dozen samples from apiaries and observed the social insects’ waggle dances to determine whether they had a preference for foraging soybean farmlands.
The Ohio State University experts – who criticised that the expansion of soybean cultivation would homogenise landscapes – said: “The total area of land planted with soybeans in the United States reached a record high of 36.3 million hectares in 2017, nearly a 90 per cent increase since the 1970s.”
According to their examination, one soybean flower has the potential to produce up to 0.5 microlitres of nectar.
The Ohio State University scientists explained: “A soybean plant produces an average of 200 to 800 flowers, depending on the variety.
“At the recommended density of 250,000 to 300,000 plants per hectare, a single hectare of soybean potentially produces 24 to 96 litres of nectar which could yield 17 to 67 kilogrammes of honey.”
The USA’s honey farms claim a global market share of four per cent. On average, each resident of the country consumes 0.9 to 1.4 kilogrammes (one to three pounds) of honey per year.
