Do Native Bees Make Better American Olive Oil?

The US olive oil market is worth nearly three billion dollars — and 95 percent of it is imported. But across seven American states, a small, quality-focused domestic industry is growing. And native bees, without invitation or management, are showing up in those groves every spring and doing something that a landmark 2013 study in Science confirmed: improving crop fruit set in ways that honey bees alone cannot match.Episode 41 follows olive trees from California's Central Valley to Georgia's coastal plain, and the native bee communities — mining bees, sweat bees, carpenter bees — that found them.Secret Pollinators is a solo narration science podcast about native and wild bees and the lesser-known pollinators shaping the world around us.www.secretpollinators.com#SecretPollinators #NativeBees #OliveOil #AmericanOliveOil #WildBees #Pollinators #MiningBees #SweatBees #CarpenterBee #OliveGrove #ExtraVirginOliveOil #BeePodcast #NaturePodcast #SciencePodcast #Pollination #BeeScience #GeorgiaOlives #CaliforniaOliveOil #GroveToTable #FoodScience #WildBees