Why Honey Bees

With a vision of bringing bees back to the city and the suburbs; High Rise Honey’s aim is to raise awareness of bees and the vital role that they play in our ecosystems and to be part a global effort to help save the honey bee from the various threats of disease and human habitation.

With the collapse of honey bees in 2007 (Colony Collapse Disorder) around the world, a serious risk is taking place on our natural food supply. The honey bee plays a very important role in the sustainability of the food supply chain as they are the key to the pollination of the agricultural and horticultural crops which ultimately produces a very large proportion of the food that we all eat. One in three mouthfuls!

Given our increasing lack of connection to our food sources, the vital role of pollination is not widely recognized or valued.

Looking to the future, as we expand on concepts of growing food in our cities & making them cooler, greener & more sustainable ‑ it is vital to protect honey bees and include them in our cities and sprawling urban landscapes.

With the realization of the importance of Bees to our environment and ecosystem, many people have entered the beekeeping world with an aim to assist.

High Rise Honey recognizes the loosely knit system of the beekeeping industry is a great start on the road to recovery.

With all these hives and resident bees the logical conclusion might be this is a positive start but how can we ensure this effort is both efficient and productive. What are the elements that allow honeybees and hives to be healthy and to produce the best product for human consumption.

High Rise proposes to commission a national study of the status and quality of hive health and honey quality. This study will be the largest study of its kind and will accelerate recovery rates while helping to identify markers that maximize efficiencies.

As a result of this study we believe in a consolidation of best practices for beekeepers in the industry and a further education of the population who depend on these efforts.

The main reason for the success of urban bees is the variety of flora growing in the city compared with to what is now present in much of the countryside which often has just one crop dominating an entire area. When that has finished blossoming, there is no more nectar for the local bees. For instance, in Paris, after analyzing the honey it was discovered that it contained more than 250 different pollens. In the countryside there can be as few as only 15 or 20 different pollens.