Coordinating collective action to build resilience for our bees
Colony loss
Keeping bees alive these days is no easy feat. In some parts of the world, annual colony casualties exceed 50%. The reality is, as beekeepers, we can implement all manner of sustainable management practices, but even the most rigorous care regimen isn’t always enough to keep our bees alive.
That’s because honey bee health isn’t just shaped by our individual beekeeping practices, it’s also impacted by the systems that surround us: the ecosystems we inhabit, and the beekeeping systems we belong to.
Beekeeping systems*
A beekeeping system consists of an extended network of honey bees and beekeepers who are connected to —and impact— each other. Honey bees are a true free-range species. They forage and mate out on the landscape, swapping genes and germs with colonies located multiple miles away.
In small-scale systems, this exchange generally occurs at the local level. But when beekeeping systems industrialize, genes and germs don’t just move from colony to colony; they’re transported from coast to coast, and honey bees catch cooties from colonies they’ve never even met.
Building resilience
Because our bees are bound together in this way, the honey bee world, we are — quite literally — our neighbors’ keepers. As a result, if beekeepers want to move the needle on honey bee health, we’re going to have to work to build both resilient beekeeping practices, and resilient beekeeping systems.
Where, exactly, do we start? First, we take stock of the systems that surround us. We identify the resilience-building practices that we can implement on our own, and we organize to form Sweet Spots, regional resilience hubs where beekeepers coordinate at the local level to limit disease transmission, decrease inputs dependence, and foster local adaptations so that resilience can take root.
At WeKeep, we help beekeepers map the systems that they’re in and craft context-specific action plans to unhook from industrialization and seed the conditions their bees need to thrive.
Our services
Free online resources
Learn more about the impacts of industrial agriculture on honey bee health, the power of beekeeper knowledge networks, and beekeeper-led strategies to seed systems change.
Workshops
Our Resilient Beekeeping Systems trainings are available both to individual beekeepers and to beekeeping groups. Sign up to learn more about WeKeep workshops.
Consults and invited talks
Contact us to schedule a one-on-one consult or to set up an invited talk with your local beekeeping group.
*For more on beekeeping systems, see Building Resilient Beekeeping Systems, a guidance memo produced with support from the Tiny Beam Fund