Without pollen we would have a colorless and eventually a lifeless planet.  The reality that pollen is the building block of almost all living things came to me as I was finishing my rough draft.  Almost all living plants require pollen to reproduce, even a field of wheat or an evergreen forest which may not require bees still require pollen. 

In 2025 I started making beeswax candles to sell at the Abingdon Farmers Market as part of a 4-H project.  That is when I started to learn more about the amazing honey bee and led me to write this essay.  This essay will focus on the link between pollen and honey bees, particularly in our area, the Heart of the Appalachian Mountains.   The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc. and Virginia 4-H outlined three questions to be addressed in this essay, which are:

Q1: How is pollen important to bees?

Q2: Has pollen been changing in plants and landscapes, if so are those changes affecting bees?

Q3: When is pollen most/least available, and how does it affect their temperament and productivity?

My Process:

I wanted to talk to a group of bee experts located in our Heart of the Appalachian Mountains region.  Using emails and telephone calls, I was blessed to be able to schedule 9 interviews across a very diverse group.  I wanted to have written questions that I could ask each person to be consistent.  I also wanted to get to know the people better so I could understand where their answers came from.

Q1: How is pollen important to bees? I asked this question directly to everyone.

Everyone responded that pollen was important to bees, yet each had their own slightly different opinion as to why or how it is important to bees.  However, they all agreed that pollen is the sole source of protein and amino acids for honey bees.  Young “nurse” bees eat massive amounts of pollen to produce Royal Jelly, which is the only food the Queen and young larvae eat. Without high-quality pollen, the “nursery” shuts down and the hive dies.

Q2: Has pollen been changing in plants and landscapes?  If so, are those changes affecting the bees?

I asked 2 questions on this, #4 & #7.   While the averages were neutral, several experienced beekeepers felt strongly that pollen has been changing in our landscapes.  Dr. Couvillon’s work is especially interesting as she studies the bee’s waggle dance to determine how far they must go to collect the “right” pollen.  Liebig’s Law of the Minimum states that if a landscape is missing even one essential amino acid represented by a specific pollen type the entire colony’s development is limited by that missing nutrient, (Amino Acid Barrel) regardless of how much other food is available, De Groot, A. P. (1953).

Dr. Couvillon has shown that some honey bees must now travel further to collect the right pollen mix, causing the bees to possibly spend more energy than they are gathering, endangering the hive.  While the pollen changes in plants and landscapes may be easy to miss, the honey bees are communicating that they must now work harder to overcome these changes.

Q3: When is pollen most/least available, and how does it impact their temperament and productivity?

Everyone noted that pollen was most available when plants are blooming, which is mostly in the spring.  There are some plants like goldenrod and ragweed that bloom in the fall.  Winter is when pollen is least available with the summer dearth second place.  All also noted that with even the slightest warm-up bees can locate some type of plants producing pollen.

The results for how it affects the honey bees, answers to #3 & #8 were mixed and very interesting.  In this case the average changed a lot between the 2 questions.  What I think happened is that I did not define diet well.  Dr. Couvillon noted that the bee’s diet is both pollen and nectar.  She noted that Pollen = Dinner, Nectar = Life.  The honey bees will become very defensive and aggressive to preserve life not so much to miss a dinner.  The same trend could be seen across other experienced beekeeper’s responses, which gives me confidence to say that the honey bees will become slightly more aggressive with a loss of pollen and even more aggressive if there is a nectar shortage.

Additional Thought: I had read that in 2026 approximately 57% of the beekeepers are using some type of technology.  How would our diverse panel respond to a question, on landscape vs technology, question #9?

The average was 4 with the majority favoring landscape.  No one was 100% for technological solutions. A few came in with 3 such as Drs. Couvillon and Wilson along with Sheriff Watson, a local beekeeper.  I wonder if we can design a system to make young people want “Bee Time” over “Screen Time”?

Conclusion:

I found that while all of the people I interviewed knew that pollen was important to honey bees, exactly how and why varied. However, all agreed that without the “right” pollen the hive dies. All agreed that landscapes are changing but not all agreed on how much and how this is affecting honey bees and their temperament.  However, it has been proven that some honey bees are forced to travel further to find the “right” pollen.  All agreed on when pollen was most available, spring, and least available, winter.  However, there was quite a disagreement between how it affected the honey bees, possibly due to how I asked the questions.

What I found was a community of friendly people, all passionately dedicated to the honey bee. They warmly welcomed me even with my lack of experience and knowledge.  I now have a greater respect for the honey bee and those dedicated to its survival.  What a learning experience!