USING HONEY BEES 

 TO POLLINATE CROPS 



Prepared by Lonnie Standifer, 1 S. E. McGregor, 2 ARS entomologists 



The honey bee is man's most use- 

 ful insect. In the United States 

 alone, about 4 million colonies an- 

 nually produce about $100 million 

 worth of honey and beeswax. While 

 performing this profitable service, 

 honey bees also pollinate more than 

 $1 billion worth of valuable agri- 

 cultural crops. 



Maximum yields of many fruit, 

 vegetable, and seed crops often re- 

 quire more insect pollinators than 

 are naturally present in an area at 

 flowering time. For this reason, crop 

 producers rent about 1 million colo- 

 nies of honey bees each year to polli- 

 nate crops. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF BEES 



Although many kinds of insects 

 visit flowers in search of nectar, few 

 are important as pollinators of 

 crops. Usually they have too spe- 

 cialized food habits, or are too few 

 in number. In fact, if it were not for 

 honey bees, yields from many of our 

 crops would be uneconomical. 



1 Bee Research 

 Arizona 85719. 



2 Retired. 



Laboratory, Tucson, 



Honey bees account for about 80 

 percent of insect pollination service 

 to crops. 



The honey bee is an unusually in- 

 dustrious insect. It visits a wider 

 variety of flower types than any 

 other insect. In a single day, one bee 



Pesticide Danger To Bees 



Pesticides are the single most se- 

 rious problem to beekeeping in agri- 

 cultural areas. Many crops must be 

 protected from insect pests and dis- 

 eases, but they must also be polli- 

 nated by bees. 



For further information on pro- 

 tecting bees from pesticides, see 

 Leaflet No. 563, "Pesticides and 

 Honey Bees." Single copies of this 

 publication — prepared by the Agri- 

 cultural Eesearch Service — can be 

 obtained free from your County Ex- 

 tension Agent or by writing to the 

 Office of Communication, U.S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Washing- 

 ton, D.C. 20250. Send your request 

 on a postcard. Be sure to include 

 your ZIP Code and your return 

 address. 



