Honey Bees Argumentative Essay

Honey bees play a significant role in the production of the various crops humans consume on a daily basis. Without the pollination services of the honeybees, 35 percent of the human diet would disappear (Stindl). The bees assist in producing fruits, vegetables, almonds, hay, cotton, and other crops which provide nutrients that are necessary for survival (Driscoll). However in recent years, bees have been dying at an alarmingly high rate. This is a problem that must be acknowledged and addressed because it is creating a rapid decline in crop production. As stated by Einstein, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live” (Stindl). Although this statement is an exaggeration of how important honey bees are, it is still a potential to becoming detrimental to our agriculture, economy, and human health.

In 2006, an international crisis arose when adult honey bees suddenly began disappearing from colonies all over the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. During the winter of 2006 and 2007, …show more content…
Monoculture farming is the agricultural method of growing a one type of crop species in a field at a time. This undiversified landscape either creates a food desert for bees or a whole field of crops that requires a large amount of bees to be shipped in to pollenate the field.
A study conducted in Southern Mexico illustrates the advantages of polyculture farming over monoculture farming in euglossine bees. In the article entitled “The Role of the Agricultural Matrix: Coffee Management and Euglossine Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini) Communities in Southern Mexico,” authors H.M. Briggs, I. Perfecto, and B.J. Brosi articulate that the “polyculture farm had almost double the euglossine abundance compared with the monoculture farm,” which exemplifies the benefit of this particular method of farming