Beeflow abuzz on the BBC 🐝

2 responses to “Beeflow abuzz on the BBC 🐝”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 25, 2022 at 9:38 pm

   prior posts here on flickrMy Series A writeup And some more of my bee photos here on flickr: and the sadness of sick bees

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2. 

   jurvetson

   Jan 14, 2023 at 1:18 am

   And from Bloomberg today: "Beeflow’s solution to a multibillion-dollar challenge facing farmers today.
   As extreme weather, habitat loss and pesticides continue to kill off honeybees, an insect critical for turning flowers into fruits, scientists are figuring out how to safeguard the remaining population and maximize its pollination potential.

   For Beeflow, that means essentially crafting better diets for bees. Just like humans take supplements for their health, the company regularly feeds its honeybees a supplement designed to enhance their immune system. Composed of amino acids collected from floral nectar as well as plant-based hormones, it allows honeybees to carry out as many as seven times more flights in cold weather, according to the company, and more than double their usual pollen load. From there, Beeflow uses a different supplement to effectively set the bees’ “flight GPS” to specific crops.

   So far, the company has deployed its solution across 10,000 acres of farmland in the US, Argentina, Mexico and Peru. Beeflow says its pollination service has produced an average increase of 32% in crop yields compared to conventional farms, based on 50-plus field tests with blueberries, almonds and raspberries.

   It took Beeflow more than three years and over 1,000 lab tests to identify and create a synthetic version of the exact floral volatile of blueberry that signals food for honeybees, De la Luz says. But the startup’s patience appears to be paying off. Beeflow says its two supplements, combined with strategic placement of beehives in farmland, help increase blueberry yields by up to 60%.

   In the US alone, beekeepers lost an estimated 39% of their honeybee colonies over the 12 months ending in April 2022, according to an annual survey. Roughly two thirds of the world’s crops rely on honeybees and other pollinators, and one recent study found that insufficient pollination is causing about 500,000 early deaths a year."

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