RE: How Many Hives Should I Get This Year?

Ironically it’s crop farming that’s the problem. By eating more vegetables than meat we’re creating a perfect storm that will decimate the bee population not save it.

Animals like cows and sheep break and compact the soil which helps to retain water. But they need to move so that they don’t damage the soil. Unfortunately from what I’ve seen of a lot of American farms this isn’t happening so the soil gets destroyed.

But if the animals were densely moved around in herds from paddock to paddock like they do here in New Zealand then the soil becomes stronger. This in turn makes plants stronger. This in turn allows bees to become stronger as they don’t have to go so far for food.

Animals are a win win win for everyone concerned.

Crops on the other hand destroy the topsoil. The methods used even in organic farming are destroying the very thing plants need to survive. Most of the crops grown aren’t the sort of crops that bees pollinate anyway and thus the bees are pushed further to find food and subsequently die of starvation or exhaustion.

Crop farming also requires far more fertilisers but currently the only ones used are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). They don’t add all the other nutrients that plants need so the crops aren’t that strong anyway.

The solution to a dwindling bee population is for us to eat more meat not eat more plants.