pollinators

We are improving and expanding pollinator and beneficial insect habitats on at least 10% of our farmland.

Pollinators

why we need bees

The salad on your plate came from a seed, and that seed received pollination from a bee- and that’s why Bees are important to Braga Fresh.

seed

store

salad

3 types of bees in a Honeybee Colony

Queen Bee

  • 1 in each colony
  • Lifespan up to 5 years
  • Can lay 1000 eggs a day
  • Responsible for laying the eggs of all the other bees in the colony
  • Controls behaviors and hive mentality with pheromones

Worker Bee

  • All female
  • Make up most of the population of the colony
  • Responsible for: cleaning the hive, protecting the hive, caring for baby bees and larva, foraging, honey production, etc.
  • Dies after stinging

Drone Bee

  • All male
  • Genetic replica of queen resulting from an unfertilized egg
  • Big and fluffy compared to workers
  • Only responsibility is mating, a process that results in their death

honey production

  • Extremely labor intensive and time-consuming process for bees
  • 1 worker bee makes only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
  • It is important to take honey from managed hives to keep the hive from leaving, due to lack of space for brood (baby bees) and other resources.
  • Honey is created from worker bees foraging nectar. Worker bees bring nectar back for another worker to distribute in the comb inside of the hive. Enzymes are added to create a reaction. Worker bees fan their wings over nectar until it dries to a 17% moisture content and is capped with wax when the process is complete.

why does Braga Fresh have their own bees?

  • We have several acres of pollinator habitat that serves native bumble bees, dragonflies, syrphid flies, butterflies, etc. Making sure it serves honeybees as well, since we consider them a part of our team.
  • We keep our bees on our organic home ranch. Our IPM practices ensure the honeybees are safe and secure in their location and can thrive.
  • Bee populations are declining for several reasons, and it is important to us to utilize our land to aid in the survival and success of honeybee populations.
  • We get several calls every season about honeybees swarming and landing in places our employees need to access, so we decided to catch them and keep them in the area to forage on the plants they’re used to, instead of risking their survival by displacing them.
  • We use them for seed crop. Why? Using honeybees to pollinate nearby seed crops increases the seed set and quality.
  • We also use them to pollinate our annual pumpkin patch, which is full of pumpkins that go to our employees as well as local schools as donations.

about Braga bees

  • We started our bee program in 2021, but the planning phase began in 2020, so it counts!
  • We operate a small apiary on the home ranch in a pollinator habitat, with plants such as California poppy, lupine, yarrow, alyssum, etc.
  • We recently started purchasing seed mixes with over 50% native flowering seeds to increase populations of native pollinators.
#SAVETHEBEES