Is beekeeping cruel to bees?

Bees make honey to sustain the colony through winter. Commercial beekeepers harvest it and substitute high-fructose corn syrup or sugar water, which lacks the micronutrients bees need. Queens are killed and replaced every 1–2 years, and wings are often clipped to prevent swarming.

Migratory pollination — trucking hives across continents — is a leading cause of colony collapse and disease spread. Native pollinators, not honey bees, are the ones actually threatened in the wild.

Choose locally produced fruit and vegetables to support farmers who use sustainable, non-migratory pollination practices. A 2021 report stated that the stress of transportation can cause up to 30% of bees in a hive to perish during a single cross-country trip. Avoiding commercial honey is a direct way to protest the treatment of these insects as industrial equipment rather than vital members of our global ecosystem.