Speaking to one of Arkansas’s garden clubs, I became
keenly aware of the environmental stresses our honey bees face. I mentioned to
the group that gardeners and beekeepers share a close relationship just as
flowers and bees share a close relationship. Flowering plants depend upon bees
for reproduction; bees depend on flowers for food. The mere existence of each
is dependent upon the other. Bees and native pollinators are important to us,
and they have the same requirements as humans: a dry house, food, water, and an
environment free of toxins. An agricultural state, much of Arkansas is depicted
by miles and miles of monocultural plantings of a few agricultural crops:
cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and sorghum. Today’s industrial
agriculture involving the complete destruction of weedy forage plants and heavy
usage of pesticides make these row crop areas a harsh environment for bees and
pollinators. Eastern Arkansas, one of the nation’s principal honey producing
regions, is now one of the most threatened for honey bees. Of particular
concern to beekeepers is the heavy use of insecticides and fungicides applied
to soybeans, cotton, corn, and sorghum.
Beekeepers play an important role of protecting both
the honey bees and native pollinators. While most of the pollinators are bees
and other insects—fragile creatures with no voice—they are important to us as
they play an essential role in providing one third of our human food supply.
They rely upon environmentally aware and concerned gardeners, farmers,
extension agents, golf course managers, and beekeepers. The gardeners were
eager to design their plantings as pollinator gardens. Beekeeper Allan Isom and
45 enthusiastic citizens have been instrumental in getting the City of Searcy
and White County, Arkansas designated as a Pollinator Friendly Community. See http://m.thedailycitizen.com/community/image_948687a5-66c3-5e88-af43-77239cfe832f.html?mode=jqm.
The city celebrated their first-in-the-state effort at Searcy’s City Hall.
Congratulations to our friends in White County! Other communities can explore
how to protect pollinators and receive recognition for the effort at http://www.beecityusa.org/. These Arkansas
strawberries require healthy pollinators.
--Richard