Want to Help Urban Farming? Fight for Bees

There’s one tiny problem for the blossoming urban farming movement. And I do mean tiny — it’s the type of problem that most city residents tend to squash with a well-aimed shoe. The bad news for all those city-folk cultivating tomatoes in vacant lots and growing peppers in pick-up trucks is that they need pollinators, and a city is not a friendly place for bees.

It is in fact illegal to keep bees in New York City. Section 161.01 of the NYC Health Code prohibits people from trafficking in or housing “wild animals,” including “all venomous insects.” Anyone who’s ever been stung by a bee can attest that these are no ladybugs, but come on now — venomous? Honestly, it’s a bee, not a rattlesnake.

And more to the point, people growing food in New York need bees, whether they’re dangerous or not. The urban farming movement can only develop in all the creative ways its practitioners can dream up if the conditions are right for cultivation. A key element of that is pollination — animals (including bees) must pollinate around 1,000 of the 1,330 crop plants grown globally for food, fiber and medicine.

We need to fight for the rights of these ferocious little beasts. Join Just Food, an organization that connects local farms with urban New York neighborhoods, in lobbying for the legalization of beekeeping in the city.

The Legalize Beekeeping in NYC campaign is motivating volunteers to call the Department of Health and request the removal of the honeybees from section 161.01 of the Health Code. The campaign also supports a bill by City Councilman David Yassky, which would legalize beekeeping in city limits.

Visit the campaigns section of the Just Food Website to read about activities, sign the petition and learn how to collect other signatures. You better; if you don’t do something to help the cause, a savage swarm will surely get you.

Photo courtesy of jbaker5 on flickr