Bees and crops

For each crop: how much of the yield depends on pollinators, which bee species visit the flowers, when they fly and how they are doing. All from open scientific sources.

109 cropsOpen sources, with attributionFigures come live from the bee database
109
Crops with their own page
46
Crops that depend strongly on pollinators (essential or great)
117
Bee species recorded on these crops
1
Of which threatened on the European Red List

Why pollination differs between crops

Some crops set almost no fruit without insect visits, others pollinate themselves or rely on wind. The dependence below is the share of the yield that is lost without animal pollinators, following the classes of Klein and others (2007) as published by the EU Pollinator Hub.

Which bees visit a crop comes from records of flower visits in European network studies. A species that is not listed may well visit: it only means that the open sources contain no record of it yet.

All crops

CropDepends on pollinatorsBee species recordedThreatened (Europe)
Common mountain ashSorbus aucupariaessential (90-100%)40
PumpkinCucurbita pepoessential (90-100%)20
Golden kiwiActinidia chinensisessential (90-100%)0-
WatermelonCitrullus lanatusessential (90-100%)0-
MelonCucumis meloessential (90-100%)0-
Giant pumpkinCucurbita maximaessential (90-100%)0-
Musk squashCucurbita moschataessential (90-100%)0-
Brazil nutsBertholletia excelsaessential (90-100%)0-
Common cacaoTheobroma cacaoessential (90-100%)0-
Common vanillaVanilla planifoliaessential (90-100%)0-
Custard appleAnnona squamosaessential (90-100%)0-
SapodillaManilkara zapotaessential (90-100%)0-
Common passion fruitPassiflora edulisessential (90-100%)0-
Red raspberryRubus idaeusgreat (40-89%)291
BlackthornPrunus spinosagreat (40-89%)281
Briar roseRosa caninagreat (40-89%)211
BilberryVaccinium myrtillusgreat (40-89%)181
AppleMalus domesticagreat (40-89%)120
TurnipBrassica rapagreat (40-89%)90
BuckwheatFagopyrum esculentumgreat (40-89%)80
Common pearPyrus communisgreat (40-89%)60
FennelFoeniculum vulgaregreat (40-89%)50
Common corianderCoriandrum sativumgreat (40-89%)50
Highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosumgreat (40-89%)50
PlumPrunus domesticagreat (40-89%)50
Sweet cherryPrunus aviumgreat (40-89%)40
Sour cherryPrunus cerasusgreat (40-89%)40
CucumberCucumis sativusgreat (40-89%)10
PeachPrunus persicagreat (40-89%)10
Common medlarMespilus germanicagreat (40-89%)10
ApricotPrunus armeniacagreat (40-89%)0-
AvocadoPersea americanagreat (40-89%)0-
Lowbush blueberryVaccinium angustifoliumgreat (40-89%)0-
Rabbit-eye blueberryVaccinium virgatumgreat (40-89%)0-
CloudberryRubus chamaemorusgreat (40-89%)0-
Robusta coffeeCoffea canephoragreat (40-89%)0-
Small cranberryVaccinium oxycoccosgreat (40-89%)0-
Sweet almondPrunus dulcisgreat (40-89%)0-
NutmegMyristica fragransgreat (40-89%)0-
CuminCuminum cyminumgreat (40-89%)0-
Jamaica pepperPimenta dioicagreat (40-89%)0-
MangoMangifera indicagreat (40-89%)0-
CashewAnacardium occidentalegreat (40-89%)0-
Cluster cardamonElettaria cardamomumgreat (40-89%)0-
CarambolaAverrhoa carambolagreat (40-89%)0-
FeijoaFeijoa sellowianagreat (40-89%)0-
RapeseedBrassica napusmodest (10-39%)641
White mustardSinapis albamodest (10-39%)231
Broad beanVicia fabamodest (10-39%)150
Common sunflowerHelianthus annuusmodest (10-39%)151
Black elderSambucus nigramodest (10-39%)120
Black mustardBrassica nigramodest (10-39%)80
Sweet chestnutCastanea sativamodest (10-39%)70
Garden strawberryFragaria ananassamodest (10-39%)70
Black currantRibes nigrummodest (10-39%)50
SoybeanGlycine maxmodest (10-39%)30
Chinese dateZiziphus jujubamodest (10-39%)30
CarawayCarum carvimodest (10-39%)20
Tree-strawberryArbutus unedomodest (10-39%)20
Coconut palmCocos nuciferamodest (10-39%)0-
Arabica coffeeCoffea arabicamodest (10-39%)0-
Red currantRibes rubrummodest (10-39%)0-
AubergineSolanum melongenamodest (10-39%)0-
Common figFicus caricamodest (10-39%)0-
OkraAbelmoschus esculentusmodest (10-39%)0-
Upland cottonGossypium hirsutummodest (10-39%)0-
Gossypium barbadenseGossypium barbadensemodest (10-39%)0-
Common sesameSesamum indicummodest (10-39%)0-
Service treeCormus domesticamodest (10-39%)0-
Liberian CoffeeCoffea libericamodest (10-39%)0-
Sword beanCanavalia gladiatamodest (10-39%)0-
Prickly pearOpuntia ficus-indicamodest (10-39%)0-
Common guavaPsidium guajavamodest (10-39%)0-
PomegranatePunica granatummodest (10-39%)0-
FlaxLinum usitatissimumlittle (1-9%)60
AzaroleCrataegus azaroluslittle (1-9%)50
French beanPhaseolus vulgarislittle (1-9%)30
Runner beanPhaseolus coccineuslittle (1-9%)10
LemonCitrus limonlittle (1-9%)10
TomatoSolanum lycopersicumlittle (1-9%)10
Lima beanPhaseolus lunatuslittle (1-9%)0-
Mung beanVigna radiatalittle (1-9%)0-
Bell pepperCapsicum annuumlittle (1-9%)0-
ChilliCapsicum frutescenslittle (1-9%)0-
Black-eyed peaVigna unguiculatalittle (1-9%)0-
LimeCitrus aurantiifolialittle (1-9%)0-
Bitter orangeCitrus aurantiumlittle (1-9%)0-
PomeloCitrus grandislittle (1-9%)0-
Sweet lemonCitrus medicalittle (1-9%)0-
MandarinCitrus reticulatalittle (1-9%)0-
Sweet orangeCitrus sinensislittle (1-9%)0-
CumquatCitrus japonicalittle (1-9%)0-
PeanutArachis hypogaealittle (1-9%)0-
PersimmonDiospyros kakilittle (1-9%)0-
SafflowerCarthamus tinctoriuslittle (1-9%)0-
PapayaCarica papayalittle (1-9%)0-
Star appleChrysophyllum cainitolittle (1-9%)0-
LonganDimocarpus longanlittle (1-9%)0-
RambutanNephelium lappaceumlittle (1-9%)0-
Oil palm fruitElaeis guineensislittle (1-9%)0-
Hog plumSpondias mombinlittle (1-9%)0-
PeaLathyrus oleraceusnone80
QuinoaChenopodium quinoanone0-
ChickpeaCicer arietinumnone0-
LentilVicia lensnone0-
GrapevineVitis viniferanone0-
OliveOlea europaeanone0-
Common juniperJuniperus communisunknown140
QuinceCydonia oblongaunknown60

Sources

This page only uses sources with an open licence. The bee database itself contains more records, from sources for which permission is still pending.

  1. European Red List of Bees (2026), Appendix 1: Red List status at Pan-Europe and EU27 levels
    Publications Office of the European Union / IUCN · version 2026 · licence CC BY 4.0
    Michez, D. et al. (2026). European Red List of Bees. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2779/521877 (CC BY 4.0). Appendix 1.
    doi.org/10.2779/521877
  2. Vliegperiode per maand, afgeleid uit BeeBDC-waarnemingen met open licentie (CC0 / CC BY)
    FairGrow (afgeleid) · version 1.3.4 · licence CC BY 4.0 (afgeleid uit CC0 / CC BY)
    Afgeleid door FairGrow uit: Dorey, J. B. et al. (2023). A globally synthesised and flagged bee occurrence dataset and cleaning workflow. Scientific Data 10: 747. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02626-w. Cleaned database v1.3.4 (2024-02-15), Figshare. Kleinste maandvenster met 90% van de waarnemingen, minimaal 20 records.
    doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02626-w
  3. EU Pollinator Hub PLLNT11.0.0 Pollination: dependency of crops on animal pollination
    EU Pollinator Hub (EFSA / BeeLife), Zenodo · version PLLNT11.0.0 · licence CC BY 4.0
    Rubinigg, M. (2023). Pollination (PLLNT11.0.0). EU Pollinator Hub. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18008331 (CC BY 4.0). Based on Klein, A.-M. et al. (2007). Proc. R. Soc. B 274: 303-313. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3721
    doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18008331
  4. Bij-plantinteracties: EuPPollNet via GloBI (CC BY 4.0)
    GloBI / Big Bee · version 7.0 · licence CC BY 4.0
    Lanuza, J. B. et al. (2025). EuPPollNet: a European database of plant-pollinator networks. Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.15183272 (CC BY 4.0), via Seltmann, K. et al. / Big Bee project and GloBI (2025). Global Bee Interaction Data v7.0. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17957582. Underlying data: Global Biotic Interactions (Poelen et al. 2014).
    doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17957582
  5. Bij-plantinteracties: DoPI via GloBI (CC BY 4.0)
    GloBI / Big Bee · version 7.0 · licence CC BY 4.0
    Balfour, N. J. et al. Database of Pollinator Interactions (DoPI). Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.15224385 (CC BY 4.0), via Seltmann, K. et al. / Big Bee project and GloBI (2025). Global Bee Interaction Data v7.0. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17957582. Underlying data: Global Biotic Interactions (Poelen et al. 2014).
    doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17957582
Bee groups

Which bees fly around your field?

In the FairGrow bee database you see the species in the cells around your own fields and apiaries, with flight weather and forage landscape.

Open the bee database →Back to the knowledge base
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