More Than Honey is a documentary by Markus Imhoof who travelled to four continents in order to interview scientists and bee-keepers about having bee farms.

Bees are important pollinators that pollinate the vegetables and fruits that we consume. They pollinate over a third of the fruits and veggies that we eat. Not to mention the fact they are also important in chemical-agriculture and especially in honey-manufacturing. However, over the past years, the number of bees are dropping even with scientists not being sure why.

“If bees were to disappear from the globe…mankind would have four years left to live.” These words, was quoted in the film. 

Imhoof made this documentary in order to share his fears of the dropping numbers of bees; hereon, he introduces the audience with a bee-keeper having 15,000 bee hives. The documentary also offers close-in shots of bees hatching and feeding one another that allows the viewers to a deeper view of the bees than they have encountered in their lives.

It seemed that the overuse of pesticides and the growth of viruses and fungi are threatening the existence of bees. More Than Honey not only shows the positive sight of these creatures but also the negative side; bees being crushed by mechanical loaders and being eaten by destructive mites. However, Imhoof said that the increasing death of bees are not only caused by the following but because of the advancement and prosperity of civilization as well. Other natural factors like deforestation, climate change and loss of biodiversity also add up to the faults.
However, Imhoof is quite optimistic that the Africanized killer bees will help to avoid the complete dropping in numbers of bees as their immune system is intact. Although they could be quite dangerous, Imhoof is hopeful that by breeding them the population of bees will remain constant.

Source: Grist
Special Credit: Jianne Soriano