Flying Towards the Beehive: The Estonian Apiculture industry

VINCENT TEETSOV

Bees come in more than 20,000 varieties worldwide. Eight of these are honey bee species that are known to still exist. Whether they produce honey, or they are the at-risk wild bees that pollinate agricultural products that make up the food on our plates, they are vital to our survival. Yet, they are at the centre of a serious dilemma that affects both Estonia and Canada.

Two years ago, the Netflix documentary series Rotten revealed the alleged corruption behind the United States’ booming honey industry; claiming that diluted honey (filled with substitutes such as rice syrup) was being sent from multiple countries in Asia to counteract the dwindling number of honey-producing bee colonies in the US. This alarming claim has even instigated the use of scientists trained in melissopalynology (pollen analysis), to determine where honey comes from, both in botanical and geographical terms.

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Photo: agri.ee