Honey bees are dying in record numbers around the world. Without these matriarchal societies of honey producers and pollinators, our food system as we know it will collapse.
According to this USDA article on honey bee populations, about one-third of honey bee colonies are lost to Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, each year. Honey bee pollinations account for about $15 billion in increased crop value since the ladies do for free what would take thousands of people to hand-pollinate were they to completely disappear one day.
Dania and Milvia, of Project El Panal and Global Village, are giving these buzzy ladies the best possible conditions to thrive, while cooperatively supplementing their incomes with honeybee-based products.