Honeys

Bees appeared nearly 100 million years ago, humans only 2 million years ago. The bee is the symbol of ancient Egypt. In Greece, Pythagoras invented the hexagonal shape of the hive cell, while Aristotle wrote the first treatise on beekeeping, and Hippocrates used honey as a remedy. In Rome, Ambrose of Milan, attacked by bees in his cradle, escaped unharmed and became Saint Ambrose, patron saint of beekeepers. In Gaul, beehives were made from tree bark. In the Middle Ages, Albert the Great studied bee anatomy. During the Renaissance, Luis Méndez de Torres wrote a beekeeping manual and asserted that the bees' leader was a queen! In the 18th century, René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur described the digestive systems of bees and wasps. The 19th century, the golden age of beekeeping, saw the publication of several works on the subject. Henri Hamet founded the journal L'Apiculteur and the Société centrale d'apiculture.

The 20th century saw the modernization of extractors and a significant increase in honey production, with harvests flourishing until 1981/1990. However, the job became too technical, tiring and costly, with unpredictable results and low sales prices. Karl von Frisch, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, studies the social interactions of insects. Alain Caillas defines propolis .

Since the 2000s, the beekeeping situation has been catastrophic, with a drastic drop in production. The list of causes is long: malnutrition (lack of biodiversity and monocultures), climate change (drought and late frosts), pesticides (neonicotinoids), varroa mites (parasitic mites of bees), premature mortality of queens, and so on. This situation threatens not only the beekeeping industry, but also the essential role played by bees in agricultural pollination. This fact sheet describes the industry in its current technical and economic context.