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June Buzz The Honey Bee
The Honey Bee
There are 44 subspecies of honey bees with the most common being the western honey bee. These busy little creatures help feed the planet and help farmers crops through pollination and producing honey that stocks our store’s shelves.
Honey Use
• Honey is an excellent sweetener for cooking and baking and is healthier than processed sugar because it contains nutrients and antioxidants.
• Local honey is believed to help with seasonal allergies. There is little research about it’s effectiveness, but purists continue to pass on the tradition.
Go Garden Friendly
• Use eco-friendly pest repellents to keep the slugs and flies away without discouraging pollinators.
• Choose natural bug repellents that won’t deter our friendly fliers and wear protective clothing while outdoors.
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Here’s the Buzz
Local honey is flying off the shelves. In 2016, the total value of honey produced in the U.S. was $336M which is 517M pounds consumed. That’s 1.6lbs/person.[1]
80,941 tons of Honey
In 2016 honey production was up 3% for operations with 5 or more bee colonies and 6% for producers with fewer than 5 colonies, which totaled 766 thousand pounds of honey in the U.S.[2]
1http://www.beeculture.com/u-s-honey-industry- report-2016/
2United States Department of Agriculture (National Agricultural Statistics Service, NASS)