Each February, a vast yet largely invisible migration takes place across the United States. Semi-trucks stacked high with honey bee colonies head to California鈥檚 Central Valley, carrying nearly 99 percent of the nation鈥檚 domesticated bees. There, the bees pollinate millions of acres of blooming almond orchards before fanning out across the country for apples, berries, and other crops. This massive undertaking sustains both beekeepers and farmers鈥攂ut it comes at a heavy price.
In Bitter Honey, Jennie Durant takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the human and ecological cost of industrial farming for bees, beekeepers, and all of us who depend on them. Bees today face a gauntlet of threats: parasites and disease, pesticide exposure, and climate extremes鈥攁ll magnified by Big Ag. Beekeepers, meanwhile, endure grueling practices just to survive, often losing half their hives each year.
But this isn鈥檛 a story of defeat. Durant introduces us to the beekeepers, farmers, and activists pioneering new ways to support both wild and managed bees. The stakes are high: nearly three-quarters of our major food crops depend on bees and other pollinators. Bitter Honey exposes the crisis threatening the nation鈥檚 bees and spotlights the advocates working to protect them for generations to come.
Jennie Durant is a writer and researcher focused on bees, agriculture, and the environment. She has spent more than a decade working with beekeepers, scientists, and policymakers, including time at the US Department of Agriculture and University of California, at both Davis and Berkeley. Her writing has appeared in Grist, Glamour, HuffPo, and the San Francisco Chronicle. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.
"Environmental writer Durant debuts with a deeply researched expos茅 of the agricultural industry’s role in bee population decline. . . . [An] important wake-up call."鈥�Publishers Weekly
"[Jennie Durant's] years working with policymakers, beekeepers, and scientists have introduced her to key players at all levels of this impending national crisis, and their personal stories of triumph and frustration, creativity and determination make for lively and informative."鈥擟arol Haggas, Booklist
“With the reportorial depth of John McPhee, the wit and wanderlust of Susan Orlean, and a quirky fizz all her own, Jennie Durant reveals the plight—and peculiarities—of an industry under siege. Baby-sucking mites, climate disasters, pesticide middlemen! Bee brokers. Honey laundering! This is an ambitious, important, and utterly captivating book.”—Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Replaceable You and Stiff
“A captivating, compelling, and inspiring account of the trials and tribulations faced by bees and beekeepers in our modern, industrialized world.”—Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth
“Bitter Honey is the new Silent Spring: a watershed book on the devastating consequences of commodifying nature to the brink of disaster. Deeply researched and compassionately written, this page turner will upend everything you thought you knew about bees, their place in our food systems, and what it will really take to save them.”—Nancy Lawson, author of The Humane Gardener and Wildscape
“In this beautifully written book, you’ll come to understand how toxic chemicals, climate change, and careless land management threaten bees that enrich ecosystems on which we all depend. This is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how we got into this mess, and it is also a call to action, offering creative ways we can nurture bees that nurture us for generations to come.”—Bart Elmore, author of Seed Money and Citizen Coke
