Ford World Headquarters’ Bees Deliver Honey Harvest
Photo: Ford
Saturday is National Honeybee Day, and Ford is celebrating with the announcement that the bees at its World Headquarters campus have generated a harvest of honey. Ford moved six unique beehives to the North Pond area of its Dearborn campus in 2018, and this now marks the second year in which the hives have produced enough honey for use.
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“There are ups and downs,” said Anthony Senatore of Ford’s environmental quality office. “Each year is its own separate situation based on the environmental conditions and the availability of nectar. This year, there was more honey than the bees would need for their winter food supply, so the excess was harvested.”
Ford says that the honey pulled from the six colonies on its WHQ campus will be used for multiple causes. Some will be donated to local nonprofits, and Ford food service provider Aramark will use honey in the campus cafeteria as facilities continue to reopen.
Ford’s commitment to saving the bee continues
Photo: Ford
In May, Senatore said that the six colonies cost upwards of 60,000 bees in the summer, putting the population on Ford’s World Headquarters campus around 360,000. Ford has been involved in the preservation of bees since 2016 when it established a habitat for bees at its Rouge Complex. The initiative was so successful that Ford extended the program to its WHQ in 2018.
Honeybees are crucial to the global economy, contributing to the production of between $235-$577 billion worth of food. The United States Food and Drug Administration reports that over 90 commercial crops rely on honeybee pollination.
Senatore says that Ford plans to continue its beekeeping program. Honeybees from the six colonies on World Headquarters campus will be relocated to other Ford campuses to create new colonies in the future.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.