Is there a future without bees? 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam. How are you, Neil?

I've been as busy as a bee

this week, Sam.

Oh, don't you sound like the bee's knees!

All right, Sam, there's no need

to get a bee in your bonnet!

As you can hear, English is full

of idioms involving bees.

But the sad truth is that bee numbers are

declining at an alarming rate and in some

places disappearing altogether.

And this has serious consequences

for humans.

Today, one third of the food we eat

depends on insects to pollinate crops,

fruit and vegetables.

But bees are in trouble. In some European

countries up to half of all bee species are

facing extinction, placing our

food supply chain at risk.

Bees are vital in pollinating hundreds

of crops, from apples and

blackberries to cucumbers.

In fact, almost all plants need insects to

reproduce - which is my quiz question - of

the world's top 50 crops, how many

rely on insect pollination? Is it:

a) 35 out of 50?, b) 40 out of 50?

or c) 45 out of 50?

I reckon those busy bees pollinate

b) 40 out of 50 of the most

common crops.

OK, Sam, we'll find out the answer later.

Now, if you think back

to your school biology

lessons, you may remember

that plants and flowers contain

both male and female reproductive

parts inside.

But what exactly is going on when bees

pollinate a plant? Here's Claire Bates

from BBC World

Service programme People

Fixing the World to remind us:

What is pollination? All flowering plants

need it to reproduce.

Pollen is moved from

the male part of a flower

to the female part of a flower, then

fertilisation can happen

causing fruit to grow. Some staple crops

such as wheat, rice and

corn are pollinated by

the wind however many plants

don't release their pollen easily

and this is where insects,

and especially bees, come in.

As they collect nectar to eat,

pollen sticks to them and they

carry it from flower to flower.

Pollination is the process in which pollen

is taken from one plant to another so that

it can reproduce. This is the important

work done by bees and insects.

Only after pollination can the next

process occur - fertilisation - when

the pollen carried

from another plant fertilises

a female ovule to make new seeds.

Fertilisation occurs in all flowering plants,

some of which like wheat,

potatoes and rice

are staple crops - food that is eaten

in large amounts as part

of a community's daily diet

and provides a large fraction of their

energy and nutrient needs.

Fewer bees reduces pollination levels,

meaning fewer new seeds

are created and fewer crops

grown.

But it isn't just the decline in bee numbers

causing a problem. Like us,

bees need to rest

and this has led some to come up

with creative new ways

of supplementing bee pollination.

One such innovator is Keren Mimran,

co-founder of agro-tech company,

Edete. Here she is,

explaining how dropping pollen from

drones can pollinate crops,

giving a helping hand

to hard-working bees.

How come our food security is so much

dependent on an insect that

we cannot really control?

We can bring the bees to the orchard

or to a field but we cannot

control their behaviour.

They do not come out of the hive when

it's raining or when there's

heavy wind, they work

only during daytime. There must be

a possibility of developing

a mechanical solution to the

pollination challenge.

Keren Mimran there, speaking on the BBC

World Service programme People Fixing

The World. Bees' behaviour

can't be controlled - when it rains they

won't leave their hive - the structure

where bees

live, either built by people or

made by the bees themselves.

So Keren's company has developed

drones to drop pollen on

her orchard - an area of land

on which fruit trees are grown.

The need for these high-tech solutions

reflects the seriousness

of the pollination problem

for food security - everyone getting

enough affordable and nutritious food

to meet their

daily dietary needs.

I had no idea bees were so important,

Neil. Maybe I underestimated

how hard they work.

Ah, you mean today's quiz question.

I asked you how many of the top

50 world crops rely

on insect pollination.

And I said b) 40 out of 50

of the top crops.

And you are right! They certainly are the

bee's knees when it comes

to pollinating plants!

So in today's programme we've

been hearing about the important role

bees play in pollination

- transferring pollen from plant to plant,

necessary for the

next stage of fertilisation

- producing new seeds and

fruit inside a plant.

Bees and insects play a vital

role in growing the world's

staple crops - food which, eaten

in large amounts, makes up the majority

of a community's daily diet

and meets their nutrient needs.

So bee numbers are directly linked to the

issue of food security - everyone getting

enough affordable,

nutritious food to meet

their dietary needs.

Which explains why, when bees

won't leave their home - or hive - some

people have started

using drones to pollinate their orchards -

land growing fruit trees.

And that's it for this edition of

6 Minute English. Bye for now!

Goodbye!