Editor’s Note

By now, the major issues facing honeybees and their survival are common knowledge. Articles frequently appear about colony collapse disorder, varroa mites, neonicotinoids and so on. Yet it seems like few people are talking about ways to stop this decline. That’s why I was excited when I got word that Hobby Farms contributor Jodi Helmer was working on a new book, which is now completed and on newsstands: Protecting

Pollinators: How to save the creatures that feed our world (Island Press, 2019).

Jodi is more than a great writer; she knows full well the heartbreak of losing bees, as she’s a beekeeper herself. From her introduction: “On a sweltering afternoon last June, I stood over a beehive, removing one frame after another, looking for signs of life. Small hive beetles ( Aethina tumida) had decimated the colony: They burrowed into the combs and ate the brood and pollen; their excrement contaminated the honey and covered each frame in a think slime. The honeybees ( Apis mellifera) either died or absconded, leaving us with a hive filled with invasive beetles and no bees.”

Jodi’s book is a culmination of the latest research and efforts to help pollinators, providing information and a roadmap to reverse their decline. She wrote Protecting Pollinators for other gardeners, farmers, beekeepers, foodies and environmentalists who are curious about the threats pollinators face and interested in how they can help. “I also wanted to highlight a diverse range of species and cover key threats facing all pollinators — not just honeybees, but also birds, bats and insects,” Jodi says.

If you want to protect pollinators (and as a farmer, you should), check out Jodi’s new book.