The Truck Accident That Released Five Million Bees

Yesterday, for Labor Day, we looked at the highly skilled unrecognized workers that few of us know about until something goes wrong. When something did go wrong near Toronto, previously unknown commercial beekeepers became quite visible.

The Great Bee Escape (and Recapture)

Last week, after a precautionary swerve, wooden crates loaded with beehives slid off a trailer attached to a pickup truck. On a two-lane road, one hour southwest of Toronto, police arrived at the scene of the accident. Then, quickly assessing the situation, they stayed in their vehicles.

Calling beekeepers for help, they avoided five million “angry, confused, and homeless” bees. Described by one beekeeper, “When you’re in that cloud of bees,” he said, “it’s actually quite loud — a million little helicopters flying around you.” Predictably, nearby drivers were told to keep their windows closed.

In the end, many of the bees found their hives. Much calmer and in their homes, the bees were again ready to continue their journey to a winter respite.

Commercial Pollinators

According to the USDA more than 90 crops require the insect pollination that we get from honeybee colonies. Ranging from almonds to blueberries, they compose at least one third of the crops we produce.

The Routes

On tractor trailers and flatbed trucks (like the one with the mishap), migratory beekeepers move the countless colonies they will rent to farmers. During the early spring, the journey of a whopping 31 billion honeybees starts with California’s almond crop. After that, the routes diverge. Some commercial pollinators remain with California’s cherry, plum, and avocado orchards, others travel north to Washington state, and a third group pollinates crops like flax and alfalfa that are grown in the Great Plains. Other destinations include Wisconsin’s cranberries, Florida’s clementines, and Maine’s blueberries.

These are their routes:

Plant Pollinators’ Routes

Note: I’ve added examples of crops to a Scientific American map.

Our Bottom Line: Land, Labor, and Capital

Having lived in cities and suburbia, I (maybe like you) imagine farms with acres of crops that are planted and harvested by tractors and harvesters. To this image, I now need to add beekeepers as a highly skilled invisible component of the land, labor, and capital that create our food supply.

Returning to where we began, it took a whopping five million bees to for us to recognize their existence.

My sources and more: The BBC and NY Times were two of many possibilities for a description of the Canadian bee accident. Next, this article and Scientific American had the pollination routes. And finally, to add to past posts on professional beekeepers, I looked here.