DNA in the Honey = Best Bees Plants

Ellen Wells reported on this in her Buzz newsletter (more info on article at the bottom):

Two people told me the best thing they saw at MANTS a few weeks ago was the HoneyDNA-certified pollinator plant tag from Best Bees, a Boston-based business. I’ve known about Best Bees for a while, having seen them at New England Grows several years ago and being attracted to their artist-designed, hand-painted beehives. (They also do installations, maintenance and harvesting at residential and commercial properties in a number of locations nationwide. Great idea for this product in particular, don’t you think?)

The folks at Best Bees went about analyzing DNA collected from honey in nine different regions of the country to determine what plants the local bees were visiting for pollen and in what percentages. That is, these folks know which plants bees in a certain area are visiting the most. Garden retailers can help their customers looking for honeybee-friendly plants by stocking those plants their local honeybees enjoy the most and then tagging them with this tag.

I like this company because they keep taking the extra step. They could have stopped at pretty hives or installations in one part of the country. But they take the extra steps—adding services and locations and exploring ideas—not just as part of a business plan, but because these guys believe the bees need help. I can’t wait to hear about their next steps.—Ellen Wells

This article came from GreenTalks newsletters at Ball Publishing, a sustainable e-newsletter from GrowerTalks and Green Profit. Click HERE to view article on the web.