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Bees are essential to the survival of the human race by pollinating fruits and vegetables. However, they are in danger of disappearing from the environment due to change in farming methods and the use of pesticides.
In the UK it is thought around 70 crops are dependent upon, or benefit from, visits by bees for pollination. These are fruit and vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and apples.
Ken Crowther has been finding out more.
Threat to bee numbers
A global study produced in 2021 showed bee species declined steeply worldwide after the 1990s, shrinking by a quarter in a single decade [2006–2015] when compared to pre-1990.
There are over 250 species of bee in the UK. This breaks down into 25 species of bumble bee, 224 species of solitary bee and 1 honey bee species.
DEFRA’s National Pollinator Strategy: for bees and other pollinators points out a lack of evidence for many species of bees in the UK. So, establishing a trend in UK bee populations is difficult and not clear – but the decline in wild bees is thought to be particularly acute.
DEFRA says of the 26 bumble bee species recorded in the UK 80 years ago, two are no longer
present and another six are now found in a much smaller area of the country. Recently however, one new species has arrived and another is being re-introduced
Trends for managed bees in hives, such as commercial honey bees for production, is in an upward direction.
In 2013, over 29,000 beekeepers managing around 126,000 colonies were registered in England on the National Bee Unit’s BeeBase database, compared with 15,000 beekeepers managing just under 80,000 colonies in 2008.
However, varroa mite and Asian hornets present a continuing threat to commercial hives.
Recent action by the UK Government
Neonicotinoids are extremely toxic to pollinators and the chemical sprays were widely used in agriculture to treat oilseed rape pests, such as cabbage stem flea beetle.
The pest is normally controlled by coating the seeds in a systemic pesticide called neonicotinoid. The chemical, related to nicotine, is absorbed by the plant as it grows, making it resistant to bugs and viruses.
In 2018, the EU and UK banned neonicotinoids for outdoor agricultural use. The EU had restricted the use of some neonicotinoid chemicals since 2013.
Despite being banned from general use in the UK, the previous Conservative administrations authorised the use of neonicotinoids every year for the last four years [2021 to 2024] in England via a process known as emergency authorisation.
In January 2025, the Labour Government’s DEFRA ministers rejected a further extension of the emergency authorisation process resulting in a full ban preventing the use of the chemical pesticide.
Oilseed rape production is 824 thousand tonnes, down by 32% on 2023. Oilseed rape area decreased by 25% and yield decreased by 9.7% to 2.8 tonnes per hectare.
WorldRadioGardening.com
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