Reinventing: Agriculture

Bee Farming

This article originally appeared in HuffPost on 11/04/2017

I think many of you would agree that we live in a world where it can be overwhelming to think about and try and choose an environmental issue to become passionate about, and help support. One that I think about often, and that makes me want to see action on, is the issue of bee extinction. Don’t take my word for it, just do a quick Google search to find:

More than 700 North American Bee Species Are Headed Toward Extinction - Time Magazine

Keepers warn of ‘bee-mageddon’ after France authorises controversial insecticide - The Telegraph

According to the USDA, one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the American diet is, in some way, a product of honeybee pollination.

Even if all you are having spoonfuls of gummy candy, the gelatin behind them is made of relied on vegetables and fruits that bees supported. We literally can’t escape it as humans. Carnivore, Vegetarian, Vegan, Macrobiotic, Keto diet, doesn’t matter - you need bees to make your plan work. We need to start thinking of bees as our lifelines, not just another little flying insect. They go, we go - simple truth.

If honey disappearing isn’t encouragement enough, check out the other nine things that would happen if bees die out in this quick ten minute video:

We need to take action, and become organized in the efforts to save the bees. An Austrian start up, Hektar Nektar has some great suggestions on how to get started, and have created a platform to help us do it.

Hearing about the Austrian Poreda brothers venture, made me very happy and restored another piece of faith in the power of digital solutions to improve the world, and entrepreneurs. The bees are lucky to have Martin and Mark on their side. As founders of Kununu (which was acquired by Xing for north of $12M in 2013), they know what it means to build a successful business, and create robust platforms that can change people’s lives. Luckily for us, in this case, they are focusing on bee lives. I certainly want to do all I can to help them help the bees, and I’m hoping you do too.

4 real ways you can help prevent Bee Extinction:

  1. Learn to and become a Beekeeper:

Earn money with pollination of crops, Make money with pollination services for agriculture, and most importantly get free honey(!)

  1. Have bees as guests on your farm:

Improve and increase your crop yield. Understand what managed natural pollination can do for you. Get access to pollination providers and grow your outcome significantly.

  1. Adopt a Bee Hive!

Learn about and support bees in the environment. Sponsor or adopt bee hives and get yummy honey and bee products for your family and friends.

  1. Incorporate it into your business’s culture.

Fulfill a social and ecological responsibility. Sponsor or adopt beehives, get honey and bee products for your employees, be recognized as a supporter of the global ecology.

Hektar Nektar is pioneering this space in a way that is needed badly, and by creating a platform for people to learn and become involved, they can become a powerful catalyst in tackling this real environmental, global crisis.

Please, take a peek at their site, and register to become involved. It doesn’t cost anything to do so, and you will see there are many ways to help.

Another example company reinventing business and changing the world for the better.

Know about a business with social impact?

I’d love to hear about it. I am working to bring attention to businesses doing good in the world with potential for real change. Those that believe in using business to save and protect the environment, and the triple bottom line of people, planet, and then profit. Feel free to suggest an article idea to me at jt (at) jesseseaver.com.