DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa State Fair is buzzing in the Agriculture Building, where fairgoers are learning about the growing trend of beekeeping.
There are currently about 5,000 beekeepers in Iowa. Some of their work is on display for fairgoers to learn about.
“This is an observation hive here at the Iowa Honey Producers booth,” Allison Hager, the 2023 American Honey Princess, said. “We’ve got three observation hives and in each hive, you can see the different types of workers. We’ve got the worker bees, we’ve got the drones which are our males, we’ve also got the queen bee. We can just see in here the different types of bees and all the jobs that they’re doing, and each hive has a tube that goes outside so they’re able to pollinate and bring in that pollen and nectar right into the hive.”
Honeybees are the only insect in the world that makes food that humans can eat. Hager said one way we can help the bees is by planting flowers.
“One-third of the food that we eat is dependent on pollination, so without our honey bees we’d be at a great loss,” Hager explained. “We would lose out on our apples, oranges, cucumbers, all of our really great fruits, nuts, and seeds so it’s really important that we got them.”
In addition to the bees, you can also check out the honey at the Iowa Honey Producers booth. It’s located upstairs of the Agriculture Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
