the buzziness of beekeeping

Surrounding the dandelion this bee landed on last year in my backyard are white crabapple flower petals. They fell like snowflakes, and looked like small feathers floating between the blades of grass.

Established in 1881, the Ontario Beekeepers' Association is one of the oldest established farm organizations in Ontario, and was founded even before the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs: Apiculture infosheets and 2003 Beekeeping Industry Commodity Profile

..and from the Canadian Honey Council:

• It takes one colony of honey bees (around 30,000 bees) to pollinate an acre of fruit trees. Pollination success increases if there are more honey bees present at the time of peak flowering.
  
• The value of bees pollinating fruits vegetables and legumes is 10 times the value of honey produced (over $1 billion in Canada)

A Guide to Managing Bees for Pollination
Published by the Canadian Association of Apiculturists
c/o Dr. Cynthia Scott Dupree
Dept. of Environmental Biology
University of Guelph

The Value of Bees to Pollination
(originally printed in Hivelights Vol 14 (4):15-21 November 2001
Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaMarket and Industry Services BranchHorticulture and Special Crops Division)