Honey Bees: The Livestock That We Forgot Were Livestock
What Could Happen If Honey Bees Don't Need Pollen?
The Pollinator Paradox: When Saving the Bees Could Harm the Flowers
By Luigi & Mike Brunt – Secret Life of Seeds
In April 2025, scientists announced a breakthrough: an artificial pollen substitute capable of sustaining honey bee colonies without natural pollen. This innovation marks the final step in making honey bees—already managed intensively like other livestock—fully feedable without flowers. (It was a stunning realization to me that honey bees could be thought of as “livestock”).
But while this may seem like a triumph for bee survival, it raises a deeper ecological question:
What happens to the plants if the bees no longer need them?
Honey Bees: The Livestock We Forgot Were Livestock
It may surprise many to learn that honey bees are not native to the Americas. Apis mellifera, the Western honey bee, originated in Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. They were brought to North America by European colonists in the 17th century, primarily for their honey and wax.
Long before their arrival, native ecosystems thrived with an astonishing diversity of pollinators: mason bees, bumblebees, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, beetles, and more. These species evolved alongside native flora over millennia, forming complex mutualisms essential to biodiversity. It is also important to realize how many pollinators there actually are.
In contrast, honey bees are introduced livestock. Today, they are bred, medicated, and transported across the country to pollinate large-scale monocultures. One of the starkest examples is the annual migration of billions of honey bees to California’s Central Valley, where they are essential to pollinate 1.6 million acres of almond orchards. Let us also not forget the ongoing drought and flooding events in California’s Central Valley.
“The way we currently manage honey bees is much like the way we manage livestock—and that’s part of the problem.”
— Thomas Seeley, The Lives of Bees
Each February, more than 70% of all managed U.S. honey bee colonies are trucked to California like cattle. These bees don’t fly there; they’re driven. Their nutrition is so poor in these monocultures that beekeepers often rely on sugar syrup and pollen substitutes just to keep the colonies alive after the bloom ends.
Now, with lab-grown bee diets, we’re approaching a future where honey bees may no longer need plants at all.
Did The Import Of Honey Bees Impact Existing Pollinators?
Several studies have investigated the impact of introducing European honey bees (Apis mellifera) to the Americas on native pollinators. These studies have found that honey bees can negatively affect native bee populations through competition for resources, disease transmission, and disruption of pollination networks.
Key Findings:
Resource Competition: Honey bees, being generalist foragers, can dominate floral resources, reducing nectar and pollen availability for native bees. This competition can lead to decreased foraging success and reproductive rates among native pollinators. BES Journals
Pollination Efficiency: While honey bees are effective pollinators for many crops, they are not always the most efficient pollinators for native plants. Their presence can lead to reduced pollination success for certain native flora, especially when they displace more specialized native pollinators.
Disease Transmission: Managed honey bees can carry pathogens and parasites that may spill over to wild bee populations, potentially leading to increased disease prevalence among native bees. beelab.umn.edu and what about Varroa mites?
Varroa mites came with honey bees. They are not native to the Americas.
Specifically:
Varroa destructor, the species causing widespread honey bee colony losses today, is native to Asia.
It originally parasitized the Eastern honey bee (Apis cerana), which had co-evolved defenses against the mite.
When Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) were brought into Asia in the 20th century for beekeeping, the mites jumped hosts—adapting quickly to the new species, which lacked natural resistance.
From there, the mites spread rapidly:
First across Europe and into North America by the 1980s
By the early 1990s, they were well established across the continental U.S.
Today, they are found in nearly every region where Apis mellifera is kept, except for a few isolated island populations
Altered Plant-Pollinator Networks: The introduction of honey bees can disrupt existing plant-pollinator interactions, leading to changes in pollination dynamics and potentially affecting plant reproduction and ecosystem stability. Nature
The Ecological Loop: Pollination as Relationship
Pollination is not a one-way transaction. It is a reciprocal relationship—a sacred loop—between flower and pollinator. For centuries, honey bees foraged for diverse pollens, nourishing themselves while fertilizing the very plants that provided their sustenance.
If synthetic pollen replaces natural foraging, bees may no longer visit flowers. And if bees no longer visit flowers, the plants that depend on them—both wild and cultivated—fail to reproduce.
“In nature’s economy, the currency is not money—it is life.”
— Vandana Shiva
This isn’t just a bee story. It’s a biodiversity story. It’s a food system story.
Lessons from the Green Revolution
We’ve been here before. The so-called Green Revolution of the mid-20th century increased crop yields through synthetic fertilizers, hybrid seeds, and chemical pesticides. But it also:
Reduced seed diversity
Promoted monocultures and chemical dependency
Degraded soil and water systems
Displaced traditional farming knowledge
The promise of higher yields came with hidden costs—some only visible decades later.
“The problem is the solution.”
— Bill Mollison, co-founder of Permaculture
Now, we risk a “Bee Revolution” that could do the same: replace ecological relationships with engineered inputs in the name of efficiency. What begins as rescue may end in ruin.
Toward Regeneration, Not Substitution
Yes, synthetic feed may help colonies survive lean seasons or degraded landscapes. But it should be seen as emergency rations, not everyday sustenance. The true solution is not to sever bees from flowers, but to restore the floral abundance they depend on—and in doing so, support native pollinators too.
“Feed the soil, and you feed all life above it.”
— Dan Kittredge, Bionutrient Food Association
Let us not make honey bees so independent of flowers that the flowers become dispensable.
Let’s regenerate, not replace.
Thank you as always for taking this journey with us.