Hemp and Bees… a Sweet Combination

New research shows that the Hemp plant can in fact, help nature and agriculture in amazingly important ways.

Two recent studies showed that planting hemp could help to maintain and ultimately increase the dwindling bee population. They showed that bees are highly attracted to the cannabis plant’s plentiful stores of pollen even though cannabis doesn’t produce the sweet, sugary nectar that your typical floral varieties produce to attract insects.

What makes the findings so compelling is the crucial impact it could have on suffering bee populations across North America because they are one of the most important managed pollinators in agriculture.

The researchers also discovered that hemp, a major cash crop with multiple applications can support a great variety of bees, up to 23 different genera of bees.

There was some concern however, that the issue of pest management on the crops, as the industry expands, might lead to the use of various pesticides and could potentially harm bees.

As cultivation of hemp increases, growers, land managers, and policy makers should consider its value in supporting bee communities and take its attractiveness to bees into account when developing pest management strategies.

So while we often like to focus on the recreational or medicinal use of marijuana—in its edible, smokeable, and vape-able forms—this new research shows that the plant can in fact help nature and agriculture in amazingly important ways.

To see more information and expanded content on this topic, see the Education.