By Ida Noey
We recently commemorated World Honey Bee Day, which provides a nice opportunity to celebrate the amazing bees that grace the Sacramento Valley and throughout the world. My family supports beekeeping on our ranch in the Sacramento Valley and we truly appreciate the amazing contributions that bees provide our region—helping to pollinate in the spring and bring various crops to life, as well as the wonderful honey they produce. Bees are hard workers and they are essential to the Sacramento Valley and our vibrant way of life.
Ninety percent of wild plants and 75 percent of crops depend on pollination; thus, bees are critical for nature and they significantly increase crop values and are a basic part of farming in the Sacramento Valley.
World Honey Bee Day is dedicated to raising awareness about the bee’s contributions. It is a day to celebrate beekeeping and we encourage people to think about and learn more about bees and their important role in our everyday life, and then take actions to help our precious bees. There are two notable places to learn about bees and pollination. The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center (they also have information on how to host a bee-friendly garden) and, the Honeybee Discovery Center in Orland. They have a new exhibit coming soon, “The Making of a Queen.”
