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6 Minute English
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Is there a future without

bees?
EPISODE 200910 / 10 SEP 2020

How to talk about conspiracy theories

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Introduction
Bee numbers are declining at an alarming rate
and in some places disappearing altogether, which
has serious consequences for humans. Today,
one third of the food we eat depends on insects to
pollinate crops, fruit and vegetables. Busy bees
Neil and Sam discuss what's being done to find a
solution to the problem, and teach you vocabulary
along the way.

This week's question

Bees are vital in pollinating hundreds of crops,
from apples and blackberries to cucumbers. In
fact, almost all plants need insects to reproduce –
which is my quiz question. Of the world’s top 50
crops, how many rely on insect pollination? Is it:

a) 35 out of 50?

b) 40 out of 50?

c) 45 out of 50?

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Vocabulary
pollination
process in which pollen is taken from one plant or
part of a plant to another so that new plant
seeds can be produced

fertilisation
plant reproduction in which pollen from one plant
travels to the ovary of another and fertilises a
female ovule to make new seeds and fruit

staple crops
food, like rice or wheat, which is eaten in large
amounts as part of a community’s daily diet and
provides a large fraction of their energy and
nutrient needs

orchard
area of land on which fruit trees are grown

hive
structure where bees live, either built by people or
made by the bees themselves

food security
everyone having reliable access to a sufficient
quantity of affordable, nutritious food that meets
their dietary needs

Transcript
Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript

Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning
English. I’m Neil.

Sam
And I’m Sam. How are you, Neil?

Neil
I’ve been as busy as a bee this week, Sam.

Sam
Oh, don’t you sound like the bee’s knees!

Neil
All right, Sam, there’s no need to get a bee in your
bonnet!

Sam
As you can hear, English is full of idioms involving
bees.

Neil
But the sad truth is that bee numbers are declining
at an alarming rate and in some places
disappearing altogether.

Sam
And this has serious consequences for humans.

Neil
Today, one third of the food we eat depends on
insects to pollinate crops, fruit and vegetables.

Sam
But bees are in trouble. In some European
countries up to half of all bee species are facing
extinction, placing our food supply chain at risk.

Neil
Bees are vital in pollinating hundreds of crops,
from apples and blackberries to cucumbers. In
fact, almost all plants need insects to reproduce –
which is my quiz question – of the world’s top 50
crops, how many rely on insect pollination? Is it:
a) 35 out of 50?,
b) 40 out of 50? or
c) 45 out of 50?

Sam
I reckon those busy bees pollinate b) 40 out of 50
of the most common crops.

Neil
OK, Sam, we’ll find out the answer later. Now, if
you think back to your school biology lessons, you
may remember that plants and flowers contain
both male and female reproductive parts inside.

Sam
But what exactly is going on when bees pollinate a
plant? Here’s Claire Bates from BBC World
Service programme People Fixing the World to
remind us:

Claire Bates
What is pollination? All flowering plants need it to
reproduce. Pollen is moved from the male part of
a flower to the female part of a flower, then
fertilisation can happen causing fruit to grow.
Some staple crops such as wheat, rice and corn
are pollinated by the wind however many plants
don’t release their pollen easily and this is where
insects, and especially bees, come in. As they
collect nectar to eat, pollen sticks to them and they
carry it from flower to flower.

Neil
Pollination is the process in which pollen is taken
from one plant to another so that it can reproduce.
This is the important work done by bees and
insects.

Sam
Only after pollination can the next process occur
– fertilisation - when the pollen carried from
another plant fertilises a female ovule to make
new seeds.

Neil
Fertilisation occurs in all flowering plants, some
of which like wheat, potatoes and rice are staple
crops - food that is eaten in large amounts as part
of a community’s daily diet and provides a large
fraction of their energy and nutrient needs.

Sam
Fewer bees reduces pollination levels, meaning
fewer new seeds are created and fewer crops
grown.

Neil
But it isn’t just the decline in bee numbers causing
a problem. Like us, bees need to rest and this has
led some to come up with creative new ways of
supplementing bee pollination.

Sam
One such innovator is Keren Mimran, co-founder
of agro-tech company, Edete. Here she is,
explaining how dropping pollen from drones can
pollinate crops, giving a helping hand to hard-
working bees.

Keren Mimran
How come our food security is so much
dependent on an insect that we cannot really
control? We can bring the bees to the orchard or
to a field but we cannot control their behaviour.
They do not come out of the hive when it’s raining
or when there’s heavy wind, they work only during
daytime. There must be a possibility of developing
a mechanical solution to the pollination challenge.

Neil
Keren Mimran speaking on the BBC World Service
programme People Fixing The World. Bees’
behaviour can’t be controlled - when it rains they
won’t leave their hive – the structure where bees
live, either built by people or made by the bees
themselves.

Sam
So Keren’s company has developed drones to
drop pollen on her orchard – an area of land on
which fruit trees are grown.

Neil
The need for these high-tech solutions reflects the
seriousness of the pollination problem for food
security -everyone getting enough affordable and
nutritious food to meet their daily dietary needs.

Sam
I had no idea bees were so important, Neil. Maybe
I underestimated how hard they work.

Neil
Ah, you mean today’s quiz question. I asked you
how many of the top 50 world crops rely on insect
pollination.

Sam
And I said b) 40 out of 50 of the top crops.

Neil
And you are right! They certainly are the bee’s
knees when it comes to pollinating plants!

Sam
So in today’s programme we’ve been hearing
about the important role bees play in pollination –
transferring pollen from plant to plant, necessary
for the next stage of fertilisation – producing new
seeds and fruit inside a plant.

Neil
Bees and insects play a vital role in growing the
world’s staple crops - food which, eaten in large
amounts, makes up the majority of a community’s
daily diet and meets their nutrient needs.

Sam
So bee numbers are directly linked to the issue of
food security - everyone getting enough
affordable, nutritious food to meet their dietary
needs.

Neil
Which explains why, when bees won’t leave their
home - or hive – some people have started using
drones to pollinate their orchards – land growing
fruit trees.

Sam
And that’s it for this edition of 6 Minute English.
Bye for now!

Neil
Goodbye!

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