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Today, Explained

Honey, they stole the bees

Today, Explained

Vox

Politics, Daily News, News

4.3 • 10.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Humanity can’t survive without bees, which is why bees are big business for thieves. Today, Explained’s Haleema Shah heads to the capital of sting operations — California’s Central Valley — to find out who’s beehind these thefts and why they're happening. This episode was reported and produced by Haleema Shah, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained   Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone, but the Super Bowl of bees is just getting underwhip.

0:06.0

This time of year, millions of honey bee hives descend on California's central valley

0:14.0

to pollinate billions of dollars worth of almonds.

0:18.0

For a few short weeks, every year, California's central valley erupts in pink and white

0:22.0

blossoms from the almond trees and they're truly beautiful.

0:25.0

And thus, the bees are very, very valuable.

0:28.0

Some like to say that without the almond pollination and the money that is like going with it,

0:33.0

the beekeepers in the US would go broke.

0:35.0

So valuable that people tend to steal them.

0:39.0

And the buzz around town, the beekeepers know exactly who allegedly stole from them.

0:44.0

The sting, operation is ahead, untoday, explain.

1:00.0

This episode is brought to you by SAP Concur.

1:03.0

In this economic climate, every business spending moment matters.

1:07.0

There's no room for risks, overspending and inefficiency.

1:11.0

SAP Concurs solutions take you beyond basic automation to help you increase your cash flow,

1:16.0

not your concerns, allowing you to settle employee expenses and invoices efficiently

1:21.0

and effectively reduce financial risk and save time.

1:25.0

Visit concur.co.uk to learn more.

1:28.0

Today, explained Sean Ramasuram here with Take Explained Producer, reporter Halima Shah,

1:41.0

who is here to tell us about the bees.

1:43.0

Halima, what's up with the bees?

1:44.0

Last year, I got really interested in bees after seeing these reports that a lot of frustrated beekeepers

...

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