A male Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa mordax). Considered a solitary bee, it makes its nests by tunnelling into wood, bamboo, and similar hard plant material. They pollinate beans and legumes, as well as sage, passion flowers, and moringa. Photo by Vaughan Turland, used with permission. First observed in 2018, the United Nations designated May 20 as World Bee Day, meant to raise awareness of the importance of these tiny but important pollinators, the threats they face and the contributions they make to sustainable development. This year's observance spotlights the vital role bees play in pollinating agricultural crops. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), three out of four crops producing food for human consumption depend, at least partly, on pollinators. Why do bees matter so much in agriculture? Diversity of pollinator species is critical in ensuring food security. There is also a strong link with climate change, which is affecting both agriculture and the bees themselves: Did you know our pollinators help minimize the impact of climate change on food security? How? Their diversity.#WorldBeeDay #SaveTheBeespic.twitter.com/xCYgf58EC4 — Food and Agriculture Organization (@FAO) May 16, 2023 To better understand bees’ importance and impact, I interviewed Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, a former Jamaican journalist and development specialist turned organic coffee farmer, via email. With Jamaica being home to 69 species of bees, she is acutely aware of the impact pollinators, climate change, and human activities have on her crops. Having spent much of her working life in journalism, both in Jamaica and Canada, Rowan-Campbell's interest in international development led to her doing a 13-part series, “One World,” with TV Ontario. She later left the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to head the Women and Development Programme at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and was its first woman director and adviser to the Commonwealth Secretary General. Rowan-Campbell returned to Jamaica in 1987 and worked as a consultant on women, gender, policy, environment, and change management. Five years later, after her parents moved to Canada, she took over her father's small, ruinate coffee farm and began the long road to establishing an organic farm. She is currently vice president of the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association where she represents the small producers, and uses the farm as a training location for interested farmers, particularly women and young people. She is also the only certified organic Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee producer, certified to NOP (US), EC, COR (Canada) and JAS (Japanese) standards. Jamaican organic farmer Dorienne Rowan-Campbell. Photo by Rowan Royale Farms, used with permission. Emma Lewis (EL): Tell me about your farm. What crops do you grow, and where? Dorienne Rowan-Campbell (DRC): My farm is Rowan's Royale. This year will be our 21st year of international organic certification. We are a small, woman-owned, family-managed farm perched 4,000 feet up in the Blue Mountains of West Portland, Jamaica, close to Silver Hill Gap. Our main crop is coffee, but as an organic farm, we grow ginger, turmeric, greens, bananas, plantains, root crops, lemons, mulberries … and we ensure that native grasses and bushes are preserved and wildflowers encouraged. The farm is highly shaded, although we are continually replacing trees that have been downed in hurricanes and storms. EL: How do bees play a role on your farm, and how can you continue to attract them? DRC: We have so many flowering bushes and trees and wildflowers that bees visit the farm. A study initiated for the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association in 2018 found three types of bees on the farm, not just honey bees. Each year during the coffee flowering season I have hives on the farm from a neighbouring farmer, who is a bee farmer but uses no chemicals in his practice. He tells me the quality of the honey from the bees on the farm is high as the bees have lots of food and [are in] no danger from chemicals. While he reaps the honey, I have large numbers of bees on the farm to help with pollination, particularly of the coffee. My farm manger now has one hive and is learning about beekeeping so next year he will have bees on the farm. Centris decolorata is the Caribbean equivalent to the Bumblebee, which is typically found in northern climates. This chunky bee pollinates large tropical flowers. Photo by Vaughan Turland, used with permission. EL: In your experience, what is the significance of bee pollination for agriculture in Jamaica, and for your business in particular? DRC: Bees are efficient pollinators.