It’s time to take collective action to build resilience for our bees.
Honey bees are struggling, and it’s up to us to help.
Our bees don’t need stopgap solutions. They need systems change.
That might seem like a tall order, but we built the systems that we’re in.
Together, we can transform them.
Keeping bees alive these days is no easy feat
Colony loss is mounting in many parts of the world. The reality is, beekeepers 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. Our bees are also impacted by the systems that surround us: the ecosystems we inhabit, and the beekeeping systems we belong to.
The Beekeeping Systems Framework
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 out on the landscape. They mate in open air. Because our bees make contact with the colonies that surround them, the management that one colony receives, the pathogens it contracts, and the genes it passes on can impact outcomes for other colonies, even across great distances.
Building resilience
In small-scale systems, colony-colony contact occurs mostly 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.
In 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.
At WeKeep, we help individuals and groups implement beekeeping practices that limit disease transmission, decrease inputs dependence, and foster local adaptations so that resilience can take root.
Our approach
We teach small-scale beekeepers system-savvy beekeeping.
We help beekeepers map the systems that surround them and take strategic action to build resilience for their bees.
If you’re an individual beekeeper, our signature workshop is where you start.
Sweet Spots are regional hubs where groups of beekeepers work collectively to create the conditions their bees need to thrive.
If your group is ready to take collective action, this container is for you.
We help beekeeping groups build Sweet Spots.
Who’s “we?”
Hi there! We’re Héctor and Maggie. Beekeepers, researchers, and co-founders of WeKeep.
Our beekeeping experience spans four continents, but we do most of our work in the U.S. and Mexico. In one system, we see bees struggle. In the other, we watch them thrive.
We’ve studied the factors that set some systems up for survival and steer others towards collapse. Here is what we know.
If we want our bees to be healthy, we have to build systems that they can survive. At the individual level, system-savvy beekeeping improves conditions for our bees. Paired with collective action, systems work sets the stage for total transformation.
We’re part of the “we.” We hope you will be, too. Join us. Because it’s only by working together that we keep our bees well.
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.