Supply shocks in the global food systems caused by the pandemic have heightened public concern about the security of our food supply chains. And now a new study shows that bees and other pollinators are way more important to food security than we thought.
Conducted by scientists at Rutgers University and published in the Royal Society journal for Biological Sciences, the study shows that a drop in the number of pollinators like bees is reducing crop yields for apples, cherries, and blueberries in the United States and Canada. But the study also shows that this food supply vulnerability goes way beyond bees and the fruit they help produce, because fewer pollinators lead to lower harvest volumes for major food crops. “Most of the world's crops depend on pollinators, so declines in both managed and wild bees raise concerns about food security.”
Bees pollinate about 75% of global food crops, including fruits and vegetables. But wild bee and honeybee numbers have seen declines of up to 40% for some species in the last 10 - 15 years. Without pollinators, crops such as coffee, apples, almonds, tomatoes and cocoa would be wiped out.
Crops that depend on pollinators generate more than $50 billion a year in the US alone. The annual production value of wild pollinators to just seven crops examined in this study is more than US$1.5 billion. So declining bee populations that result in lower harvest volumes for all pollinator-dependent crops is costing producers billions of dollars and hurting the security of our food system.
The study looked at insect pollination and yields for apples, cherries, blueberries, almonds, watermelons, and pumpkins at 131 farms across the US and in British Columbia, Canada. The results show that apples, sweet cherries, tart cherries, and blueberries are hurt by pollinator declines and that crop yields are lower than they would be with full pollination. The study also finds that wild bees are a more important link in the food chain than originally thought and provide higher economic value to fruit producers than honey bees.
This is yet more compelling evidence that natural habitats for pollinators are even more important than previously thought. The scientists recommend preserving wildflowers and other plants that attract wild bees to increase yields and preserve a crucial part of our food security system.
We know that pollinator populations are severely damaged by intensive farming, pollution, deforestation and monoculture cropping systems that plant crops to the fence lines and rely on heavy herbicide and pesticide use to denude the landscape of the natural habitat of bees and other pollinators. Regulators need to further restrict or speed up phasing out harmful chemicals like neonicotinoids that decimate pollinators. Agricultural producers need to take action to preserve this crucial link in the chain that puts fruit and other foods on our tables.