Celebrated every year on June 5th, World Environment Day offers an important opportunity to raise environmental awareness and promote the protection of ecosystems. On this special day, America’s patented propolis producer, BEE&YOU, emphasizes the vital role of bees in our ecosystem.
Contributing to Sustainability with the Contracted Beekeeping Model!
Dr. Aslı Samancı, Founder and CEO of BEE&YOU, stated, “Bees are critically important for biodiversity and food security. Understanding their industriousness and the contributions they make to our ecosystem can help us take the necessary steps to protect our environment and future. As the BEE&YOU family, we adopt good beekeeping practices with the Contracted Beekeeping Model. We aim to contribute to sustainable agriculture and biodiversity. Within this model, we meet beekeepers capable of producing bee products across Anatolia under the guidance of our agricultural engineers. We first inspect the apiary of the beekeeper we will contract with, ensuring that it is located in areas with clean water sources, away from waste, factories, roads, and pesticide-free environments. Thus, while preserving the naturalness of our products, we also ensure that bees live in a cleaner environment.”
The Contribution of Bees to Pollination
The most well-known role of bees is pollination. If 20,000 bees leave the hive several times a day, they can pollinate more than 20 million flowers each day. Approximately 75% of the fruits and seeds produced for human consumption worldwide depend on bee pollination. This pollination not only increases the yield and quality of plant production but is also crucial for the continuity of natural cycles.
Bee pollination directly affects the production of a wide range of products, from fruits and vegetables to cotton and cosmetics. For example, a significant portion of products like apples, broccoli, onions, sunflowers, and apricots are pollinated by bees. If bees suddenly disappeared, more than half of the supermarket shelves would be empty, and food security would be in great danger. Furthermore, the decrease in quality and yield of agricultural products would lead to economic losses. As Einstein said, without bees, there would be only four years left to live on Earth...
Increasing the Number of Hives in the World Means Continuation of Pollination!
Dr. Aslı Samancı, Founder and CEO of BEE&YOU, stated, “Again within the scope of the Contracted Beekeeping Model, we allocate 1% of the income from each product sold to the beekeeping fund. This fund is returned to our beekeepers as equipment and training support. Thus, we enable all our contracted beekeepers to increase their number of hives and grow their businesses. An increase in the number of hives means an increase in the number of bees in the world. An increase in the number of bees means that we can leave a sustainable world for future generations through continued pollination. With our 5,000 contracted beekeepers and 550,000 bee hives, this business model, which protects beekeeping and bees, significantly contributes to the preservation of green vegetation and the sustainability of food production.”