Before the interview took place, we gathered our questions that we wanted to ask the beekeeper. We wanted to make sure that these questions answered everything that we needed for our infographics and social media campaign.
Our first question we asked how they became a beekeeper in the first place, and they told us that it was a family affair. They grew up around agriculture and lived on a farm and beekeeper was just something that they grew up with.
The second question was how they acquired the bees and equipment when they first started. We learned that the beekeeper had previous contacts from their family and bought through them for their bees and brand-new equipment. By buying new equipment, it helps prevent any diseases that could be spread by used equipment.
Our third question was what type of bees they have, and as expected they have the most common, the European honeybee. These bees are very well known for their honey production.
The fourth question we asked is if the beekeeper produced their own honey and they did. They sold their honey in local farmers markets and gifted jars to family and friends.
Question five was if they thought beekeeping was profitable. For their situation, it was because beekeeping was only part-time for them as they had a full-time job, so any money made from selling jars was extra money in their pocket.
The sixth question was if they thought if there are any misconceptions about bees and beekeeping that the public might have. They informed us that there are, for example, that not all bees can produce honey, it depends on the species and that only female bees can sting you.
And the final question that was asked was how they thought the bees affect the environment. They informed us that bees are very important to different plants and animals and to us humans. They help pollinate flowers, which enriches all wildlife and habitats and they produce 1/3 of the food we eat.
Survey
By conducting this survey, we wanted to gather information on the public knowledge on bees. Taking the results of this survey, we implemented these answers into our work, social media and website. We put out information that the public is not aware of, can benefit bees and their life and how to help them in your everyday life.
There were a total of 97 responses to our survey. There were multiple questions asked ranging from numerical, factual and opinionated data.
This question was given to the public to answer because we wanted to know if they believed that they themselves could be contributing to the depletion of bee species. The public clearly agreed with this statement by answering 40.2% very damaging and 26.8% extremely damaging.
This question was put to the public to see if they knew if bees are essential workers in pollinating both flowers and agricultural crops, which are both very important in biodiversity and human consumption. We were happy to see that the public is aware of this statement by completely agreeing at 55.7% saying that it is extremely important and 28.9% agreeing it is very important.
By asking this question we wanted to see if the public were aware of the highly endangered species of bees in Ireland. The correct answer is out of the 101 bee species in Ireland 36 of them are endangered. By this answering we can clearly see that the public is aware of the alarmingly highly endangered multiple bee species here in Ireland, even by answering incorrectly at 88, 42.3% of people are still aware that bee species in Ireland and all around the world are dying out and depleting very fast. The correct answer of 36 was correctly chosen by 35.1% of the public.
This question was put forward to the public to gather if the public are purchasing organically produced food in their shopping. The 3 statements that were given to them are as follows:
1. “I would buy organic foods, but they are expensive”
2. “I would rather not buy organic foods”
3. “I buy organic foods often without consciously thinking”
The majority vote was for the first statement, that they would buy it, if it wasn't so expensive, which has 76% of the vote. This is contributing to the problem of organic, free range and healthy alternatives to food are more expensive, which they are. People do not understand that these other alternatives are better for their health, the environment and the animal itself. On the other hand, 19.8% of the public buy these organic products without consciously thinking about it.
Hopefully with this project, this could be just the beginning of an evolution of a society that the bees so desperately need.