The Next Solid Gold Investment Opportunity

Are you making long term financial plans? Are you interested in leaving something for your heirs that will appreciate in value with each passing year? I have one word for you: honey. In the future, honey might be as precious as gold, because honey bees are vanishing.

In this article entitled “When honeybees vanish will our food follow?”, by Alexei Barrionuevo, published Februray 27, 2007 in the New York Times, the author reports that beekeepers in 24 states are shocked that “their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable.”

Who cares? Suppose you can enjoy a cup of tea quite well without honey to sweeten it? Well, according to Barrionuevo: “California’s almond crop, by far the biggest in the world, now draws more than half of the country’s bee colonies in February. The crop has been both a boon to commercial beekeeping and a burden, as pressure mounts for the industry to fill growing demand. Now spread over 580,000 acres stretched across 300 miles of California’s Central Valley, the crop is expected to grow to 680,000 acres by 2010.”

My spouse recently heard on a science program on TV that honey is the one food that will never spoil. So, what better investment to leave for your descendants who may inhabit a world no longer sweetened with honey?