For too long, sustainability and profit have been treated as opposites.

One was about doing good, the other about doing well. But the businesses that will define the next decade are the ones that understand the two are now inseparable.

Sustainability is not a cost. It is a new way to make money.

At HiveKeepers, we stopped asking how to make beekeeping more sustainable and started asking how sustainability could make it more profitable. That shift led to the Micro Honey Harvester, a world-first modular system that lets anyone, anywhere, harvest pure honey without the complexity, cost or waste of traditional extraction.

Traditional honey extraction is messy, expensive and inaccessible for most people who care about sustainable food production. Large rooms, heavy machinery and dedicated facilities all create barriers for smaller producers trying to operate profitably.

The Micro Honey Harvester removes those barriers entirely. Designed with precision and intention, it eliminates the need for an extraction room. With a simple push of a button, beekeepers can harvest fresh honey from hive to home in minutes with zero mess. The result is less waste, higher yield, lower setup costs and a cleaner product ready for sale.

And here’s the part businesses rarely acknowledge: it can make you money.

Whether you are a commercial grower, hobbyist beekeeper or retail equipment supplier, this system opens a new income stream with minimal environmental impact.

For the first time, sustainability is no longer only an ethical choice. It is a financial strategy.

Consumers today expect transparency and traceability from the businesses they support. They want to know their purchases make a difference. By integrating sustainable systems like the Micro Honey Harvester, businesses don’t just meet this expectation, they exceed it. They attract new customers, command stronger margins and tell a genuine story that resonates with modern buyers.

HiveKeepers is already proving this model works. Our technology has been recognised globally, winning both an Apimondia Gold Innovation Award and an Australian Good Design Award. These accolades represent more than engineering excellence. They signal a vision for how design, purpose and profitability can coexist.

As Founder Simon Mildren puts it, “We didn’t want to make another product. We wanted to redesign an entire process and make it profitable for everyone involved, from the beekeeper to the planet.”

The Micro Honey Harvester reflects a shift in mindset. It shows what happens when sustainability sits at the centre of design, not the edge. Every element was created to reduce waste, save energy and simplify the harvesting process without compromising quality. The result is a product that benefits both the environment and the economy. It empowers individuals and businesses to take part in regenerative production, turning sustainability into something tangible and rewarding.

This is also a glimpse into the future of food production. Local, traceable, small-scale and connected. Just as microbreweries redefined beer, micro-harvesting is redefining honey.

Distributed production strengthens resilience and creates a closer relationship between the producer, the consumer and the land. It shortens supply chains, reduces waste and builds a more transparent and trustworthy marketplace.

HiveKeepers is part of a growing movement proving that innovation and sustainability are not competing goals, they are the same goal. The companies that understand this will lead the next wave of growth.

The Micro Honey Harvester is not just for beekeepers. It is for innovators, growers and entrepreneurs who see that doing better for the planet and doing better for their business are now one and the same.

This is not a trend. It is the future. Sustainability is the way forward, and it is the way to make money moving forward.

Simon Mildren, HiveKeepers: team@hivekeepers.com

The post Sustainability That Sells: How Profit and Purpose Come Together in the Hive appeared first on Green Prophet.

Beekeepers are setting up hives in a neighborhood near you, but most will just be part of the conventional system which use the same tools that may have contributed to the decline of bees in the first place. Biodynamic beekeepers are different, using a more nature-centered approach: they oppose moving hives for pollination, mass harvesting honey, and killing and replacing the queen every year. They open the hive when the moon is right, and use natural medicine like chamomile tea to treat the hives.

I first learned about biodynamic beekeeping in Israel from Yossi Oud, who studied the Rudolf Steiner methods of beekeeping via German colleagues.

With 24,000 species of bees in the world, Israel is home to about 1,300 species, compared to a total of 600 species in a country as large as Canada, says Oud, an Israeli beekeeper and teacher who works with biodynamic beekeeping methods. He says Israel is unusually rich in bee species, and this is due in part to the country’s plant diversity. I took a course with him and visited his biodynamic hives on the roof of Tel Aviv’s mall, Dizengoff Center, and at his bee farm outside Jerusalem.

Read more: Palestinian women make beekeeping sweeter

As we learn more about sustainable methods such as regenerative farming and agriculture hopefully beekeeping will meet somewhere in the middle.

The Land of Milk and Honeybees

“Israel is the land of milk and honeybees, and a special area and hotspot for animals, plants and bees,” says Oud. “Of the 1,300 species of bees in Israel, 8 of them are social bees,” he tells Green Prophet.

The local bee for the most part, which is the Syrian bee, is extinct, he notes. This is an aggressive bee which has been replaced by an imported Italian bee which is now common in wild hives, urban hives and in commercial hives. The Italian bees were brought to Israel in the 1930s to support the vineyards, he says.

Because there is such a wide diversity of plants in Israel, he stresses, this is reflected by the large range of bee species. It all goes together.

What makes the honey bee different from other bees is the honey stomach which creates honey and which is also 95% of their diet, says Oud, noting that people and honeybees have had a strong connection for thousands of years as seen in cave art in France that depicts a kind of bee agriculture. Bees were also domesticated in ancient Egypt.

Honey is a magical elixir. Mystical even. And our love for it goes way back to the earliest signs of advanced civilization, he notes.

Bees and Islam

ystically, all major world religions have a connection to bees, and Islam is no exception: “In the Quran, Chapter 16 is named after the bees” says Oud who is Jewish but who works with Muslim and Christian Palestinians to help them learn the trade of beekeeping in a project called Bees for Peace.

Why is there an entire chapter on the bees in the Quran, The Bee?

Within the chapter, two verses cover the essence of the honeybee:

And your Lord inspired the bee: build homes in mountains and trees, and in (the hives) they build for you.

Then eat from all the fruits, following the design of your Lord, precisely.

The Bee (Arabic: النحل; an-nahl) is the 16th chapter (sūrah) of the Qur’an with 128 verses. It is named after the honey bees mentioned in verse 68, and contains a comparison of the industry and adaptability of honey bees with the industry of man.

An-Nahl, Chapter 16 (verses 68 to 69) talks about a variety of topics, but Allah, according to Muslims, specifically chose the title The Bee to catch the attention of the readers. Bees are said to be Allah’s miracles; the way they function and how they behave, are to be held as an example.

According to some Islamic traditions, everyone needs a sheep and bees to ensure prosperity for the coming year.

In Judaism, the bee is not kosher but you can eat its honey, which is a rare ruling as you can’t drink milk from a non-kosher animal such as a camel. Deborah (Dvora in Hebrew), who was a prophet, is also associated with bees. Dvora means bee in Hebrew.

In the Bible, honey is mentioned 61 times and its meaning is often linked with prosperity and abundance. In the third chapter of Exodus, when God called Moses to lead the slaves out of Egypt, he called him to lead them to a land that will flow with milk and honey. This is the land of modern day Israel.

In the Song of Songs of the Old Testament (4:11-16): “Your lips, my beloved and (promised) bride, drip honey as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue, And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.”

Honey is a ritual food eaten during the Hebrew holiday called Rosh Hashanah, which celebrates the Jewish New Year. “May you have a sweet year,” is a common blessing as people eat apples dipped in honey.

What is biodynamic beekeeping?

To further the understanding of biodynamic beekeeping, we are to view the colony as one creature, explains Oud. What does the hive know? For most of us it’s a mystery but we do know that each worker female lives about 6 weeks, there is one queen and a small percentage of male drones.

The biodynamic queen lives for 6 or 7 years, and the worker bee has about 16 jobs, among which is making propolis, the immune system of the hive, which is collected from tree resin, says Oud.

The job of the male drones? While they might look like loafers who can’t even feed themselves, male bees bring genetic diversity from one hive to another on their travels,, says Oud. They mate with the the new emergent queen once a year in the spring when she flies out of the hive, and the rest of the colony follows her in a swarm to establish a new colony.. And that is how bees give birth, according to biodynamic beekeeping. The old queen stays in the hive and raises her new brood after the rest have left.

Related: What is apitherapy that uses the stings of the bees?

Bees for Peace

Bees give so much sweetness in life and health as well, but they can be credited for bringing people together in the Middle East when politicians fail. Oud has started a number of educational programs in Israel including Bees for Peace where he teaches Muslim woman how to be urban beekeepers. is your honey real or fake? “When people learn to work for the bees’ welfare, much sensitivity and gentleness is developed, and that could translate into our daily life. In this way the bees teach us to act for society, to live in co-existence, let go of stigmas, and help us get closer to ourselves, others, the land and the world,” says Oud.

Oud started Bees for Peace to join hearts and create cooperation between Christians, Muslims and Jews, Palestinians, Israelis and Jordanians. The initiative helps build bridges through the bio-dynamic bee keeping method in multiple constellations – amongst kids in schools, through courses and activities for adults coming from different sectors and cultures and in diverse joint initiatives.

Biodynamic is a term developed inside the teachings of anthroposophy, developed by the spiritualist and educator Rudolph Steiner from Austria in the early 1900s. There is dozens of Steiner schools in Israel, also known as Waldorf Schools, and Oud comes from that education system as an educator and teacher. There is even a biodynamic farm in Egypt called Sekem.

Bees for Peace emphasizes empowerment of women from “traditional houses” (whether Muslim, religious Jewish or other disempowered populations), who usually don’t go out of the house to work. They learn the art of beekeeping on their rooftop or from their garden and can make a small income from honey, beauty products, or other products derived from the wax of the hive.

The conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon has made it difficult for women in northern communities to tend their hives. Many hives have died says Oud, and I spoke with one Muslim woman who says she misses her hives like her family. She was staying at a hotel in Nazareth, unable to live in her village in the north as its constantly being bombarded by missiles.

The Marj Ibn Amer Almond project in the Jezreel Valley trained Israeli and Palestinian women to grow bees by the biodynamic method, in order to increase the number of bee hives in the area, to enhance the women’s involvement in the almond agriculture and to increase the almond yield, especially in light of the decreasing numbers of bees in the area and in the world.

The project was carried out by the El-Hukayer organization, an NGO dedicated to socio-economic development within Palestinian society in Israel.

Tlmei Achva is an educational agricultural farm in the city of Lod, for Muslim-Jewish kids and teenagers, secular and religious, where they work and grow bees together.

There is an urban beekeeping farming project in the city center of Jerusalem.

There is a biodynamic beekeeping course at Ecome center and in the city of Jericho, West Bank. The NGO works to empower Ethiopian women through growing bees and building traditional Ethiopian bee hives.

The Honey Women of East Jerusalem is a project in collaboration with the Sinsila Center and the Mosella Association.

Have a swarm? Call SOS for the Bees. Locals who find a swarm or an unwanted hive should not use poison to kill them.

SOS for the Bees is a volunteer-run group that collects swarms and re-homes hives. In Hebrew, it is Magen D’vorim Adom. You can call Yossi Oud and his team of volunteers will run to collect the bees.

::Bees for Peace

Sweet and Healing, Here’s More Honey news on Green Prophet:

Raw honey from Yemen

Tej, Ethiopian Honey Beer Recipe

Green Prophet Visits Apiary – And Gets Swarmed

Australian Eucalyptus Trees Keep Honey Bees Buzzing Year-Round

Bee Stings Are Sweet in Israel

Beelogics to save the world from bee colony collapse disorder

Organic Honey or Mass-Produced?

Can Urban Beekeepers Prevent Colony Collapse?

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This is not a festival about rooftops. It is a festival about the possibility of reinventing the city itself. Gad Eden is about adding the ground space that is in such shortage, and to dream up a reality of abundance for all of us. This year, we are celebrating the new rooftops that joined the city center on top of the art schools, and the brave decision of the Jerusalem Municipality, which together with us implemented the program for tapping into the potential of urban rooftops.

Video of Gag Eden, 2021:

Thanks to this initiative, in the upcoming years, one million meters of rooftop wilderness will be transformed into valuable green havens.

Related: meet Palestinian women beekeepers in Jerusalem.

And above all, Gag Eden is celebrating the fact that we are no longer alone, lone madmen on the roof – but a part of a growing and optimistic movement of people from all sectors, religions, sexes, and genders that come together to create the spaces we are missing, the realms of healing that the city and we need.

Join us for three days in which we will make and get to know the city we deserve.

Get the Gan Eden Full Schedule in English here (links to PDF)bees

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Engineering a bee’s stomach for vegan honey? This is the latest in the foodtech trend from Israel. Can technology solve any problem we are in?

A world without bees, or a world without honey? Which is worse? If you ask the bees, the choice is clear. Why bee populations are in decline is the same reason why the last male white rhinoceros has become extinct. The reason is us. But before the doom and gloom catches you in a cycle of despair, as individuals we can take the optimist’s approach. 

Pollinating bees are in decline because the conventional food industry relies on non-specific pesticides to kill animal pests in agriculture and forestry. I know this from my several years of work in Biology where I worked in a research institute that looks for non-chemical pesticide solutions –– or rather natural solutions to “pests” using nature and the in-built predator-prey relationship that exists in nature. 

Bees you could say are in decline because our desire for their honey has become more intense. Our industrialist mindset has put bees to work for our needs without considering their rights. For this reason vegans do not eat honey as honey cultivation involves animals –- and while it’s not a part of their body –– unlike flesh, milk or eggs –– honey is made from pollen inside the bee stomach. Honey is made to feed the bees. 

The last decade with the advances of Internet of Things products –– think Alexa, Canary the home security system, or a fridge that tells you when it’s empty (there is even a bird feeder on Kickstarter that takes pictures of birds and sends them to you) –– all rely on Wifi and low-cost sensors to connect to the Internet to help you get more out of your life. 

The technological hurdle of connecting these low cost sensors to data and software algorithms to figure out new things or to enact a change in the hardware – like shutting on or off your furnace, or adding light, a chemical or taking a picture –– is a no brainer. And geeks have been doing it for a decade with the help of low-cost computers like Raspberry Pi or Arduinos.

We did this in my startup where we invented an even smarter Arduino. Our application was to “speak for the plants” –– a robot that attempts to translate the language of nature so we can better water, feed, and grow plants according to our needs, and Nature’s. One of our applications was growing cannabis and another was for growing plants matched to a person’s optimal nutrient needs. 

So along with the advancement of consumer products the industrial Internet of Things market has grown faster and bigger. In agriculture this means drones that can speak with sensors and satellites to manage crops. It also means sensors in beehives to help fight bee colony collapse disorder which means loss of profit if you run an apiary. Apiaries are looking for data about their hives that tell them about the health of the bees: temperature, weight, sound, humidity – biological data like that. This paper offers a good background. 

My experience in this area has led me to a few different “alternative” approaches to managing the bee decline in apiaries and the world in general. 

Free the Bees

I met Yan and Sherry from Piepird in Northern Ontario eight years ago. I found them on a poster in a small supermarket advertising a music event at their bed and breakfast. Turns out the couple also run an animal sanctuary where they take in goats, chickens, turkeys and animals that would otherwise be slaughtered.

Yan (above) has liberated beehives and shown me some of the healthy hives he leaves to grow on his permaculture farm.

As vegans they do not take honey from the hives, and as permaculturists use all sorts of natural methods to help bring pollinators to their farm every summer. This method means no more eating honey. Read more about the Piebird Method here. 

Technology saves the day? 

You can find a large number of sensor-based solutions on the market that can give information about the hives. ApisTech (now called Beeyard), OS Beehives. This technology approach is selling the notion that technology can fix the problem by monitoring it and augmenting the hives.

They are doing their work and are looking for tools to better manage the outcomes of the honey crop every year. Looking for clues like weight and sound help beehive managers understand the health of their hives and if intervention is needed. Some beehive owners scatter their hives over a wide radius of thousands of acres and these apiaries need solutions that can help them spot a collapse. 

The vegan bee-free honey in a lab

I started to yawn when I read in the Haaretz newspaper today about another Israeli startup that thinks it can save the world using technology. Then I read on and understood this is something new. It’s not a company trying to farm the most out of bees –- they are working to make a honey substitute like Beyond Meat did for the vegan meat industry. Bee-io is trying to create cultured honey, without the bees. They have created an artificial bee stomach to imitate the enzymes that are present in real life bees. This is refreshing! But is the honey tasty and with health benefits? 

According to Haaretz (we didn’t link to the paywall), the CEO Ofer Dvash (means honey in Hebrew) said: “You can’t take sugar and turn it into honey. Honey needs to be made from a natural source, pollen, and it needs to pass through a honeybee’s stomach, because it contains enzymes that break down the sugars from the pollen in a certain way. Via genetic engineering and biological processes we can try to imitate what goes on in the bee’s stomach.”

According to the company cultured honey would harm no bees and would not be dependent on the season or bee colony collapse disorder. Which means one of two things –– “let them eat honey” while the world burns or –– we eat the fake honey giving us energy to take the pressure off of the bees, build them shelters and plant orchards and go back to the land so eventually we can eat real honey again, but in moderation and in a healthier, more balanced way.

Global honey prices have doubled in the past decade, notes Bee-io. “We want to disconnect human nutrition from animals, and we can’t go on exploiting animals. We’re seeing this happen with milk and meat, and also with honey,” states Dvash.

Honey substitutes are available today but they aren’t made in the same way as the Bee-io approach. It’s not clear if the Bee-io commercial approach is connected to the prize-winning student-led solution presented by students from the Technion in 2019. See the video below.

“Our vision is to create a sustainable BeeFree honey using engineered bacteria, which will process a nectar-like solution using secreted enzymes that mimic the honey stomach environment,” the students said. 

The role for urban beekeepers

See the Vegan Society for more on the problems of farmed honey. Or for fun watch as Miriam gets swarmed on her visit to an apiary. You can also learn how to test if it’s real honey or fake, or the healing powers of honey. 

Could urban beekeepers buffer bee colony collapse? Maybe. Our writer Jeff discusses. 

Our eco-commentator/voice of reason Pablo Solomon says: “Why are we even talking about “Green” in the same breath as “man made fake”?? Every time I hear about these sorts of hair-brained nerd schemes, my head almost explodes.

“My broken record—use our money and brains to provide clean water, desalinate sea water, stop urban sprawl, plant greenery everywhere possible, teach people how to grow food in cities, etc. Enough with “Mars” and self driving cars and —for heaven’s sake fake honey.”

Americans should say bye to the honeybee

Steven Jacobs, who pioneered hydroponics systems at high tech companies like Microsoft, says:  “Thing is, this is putting in resources to help the bees. In the US for example, honeybee production is decimating the native bees. Honeybees are not native here and they spread diseases to, and compete directly with, our native honey-less bees.

“Eliminating honeybees entirely from the continent would do better for the bees than any other thing.

“So maybe in places where honeybees are native this isn’t an issue. But it is an issue in many places. Why reinvent the wheel? Well, what if that wheel is running over and crushing everything in its path? Maybe reinventing the wheel is needed sometimes.”

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A hundred employees from The Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh planted over 300 trees in the hotel’s surroundings as part of a new environmental campaign called Green Earth, Clean Earth. The project is part of a global initiative called Clean up the World with a dual purpose to preserve the natural environment and give back to the local community. Swanky hotels aren’t just about nice soap.

“We are constantly looking for ways to support our community, and the Green Earth, Clean Earth campaign is a great way to highlight our ongoing commitment to working together for a better environment,” said Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh General Manager Adel Al-Mahboob. “We are thrilled to see that so many of our ladies and gentlemen here at the Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh took part in this initiative to actively support the community, proudly demonstrating the company’s long-term vision.” The Clean up the World campaign is held in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

The hotel chain has a history of leadership in environmentally mindful practices. The Ritz-Carlton in Charlotte (North Carolina, USA) was the first LEED Gold-certified hotel for the company, and for that city. It boasts a vegetated roof planted with 18,000 sedum plants to help reduce urban heat island effect. The green roof slows rain runoff and provides insulation, keeping the overall building cooler whilst also cooling the air around it through evapotranspiration. The chef’s garden and beehive colony also sit on that roof; organic honey, lavender, mint, other herbs and greens feature large on the hotel menu. (Seventy pounds of chemical-free raw honey is generated annually by the hives, depending upon foraging schedules, weather and nectar flow.)

The hotel doesn’t stop there. Employee uniforms are made of fabric derived from regenerated plastic bottles. There are Bike Valets who issue and maintain a fleet of Trek Bikes for complimentary use by guests.  There’s a Level I and Level II-capable electric vehicle charging station and free parking for guests who drive electric and hybrid vehicles. A LEED-accredited employee oversees all the environmental practices throughout the facility. It’s unlikely there are many takers for free bikes in Riyadh, but many of the other green amenities could be replicated at every Ritz-Carlton location.

Through its Community Social Responsibility program, Community Footprints, the Ritz-Carlton focuses on three key areas — hunger and poverty relief, child well-being, and environmental responsibility. As part of the company’s commitment to the environment, there is a Ritz-Carlton environmental action conservation team at each hotel to manage on-site sustainability projects.

The hotel reports that their efforts are reducing use of natural resources, supporting the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company’s goal to cut energy and water consumption by 20 percent by 2020 (against a 2007 consumption baseline).

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Painful bee stings are said to relieve serious ailments. Green Prophet talked to beekeeper Yanay Zacks about Bee Venom Therapy in Israel.

Talking to beekeeper Yanay Zacks in Moshav Tsufit, Israel, we learned that patients suffering from  arthritis, gout, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments claim relief from their symptoms through apitherapy – being stung by bees.

“We supply bees to two women suffering from multiple sclerosis,” says Mr. Zacks. Admitting that sacrificing the bees sometimes means taking a financial loss, Mr. Zacks altruistically continues to give the women their little flying doctors. “Each has taken 90 stings a week for the past four years,” he says. “They claim they get huge relief from the coldness and pain in their feet and legs.”

His wife chimes in: “A person can take a lot of stings, but after a while they have to take a break. It does hurt, after all. Every few months, the ladies stop therapy for several weeks and then send their husbands back for more bees.”

It’s not understood how exactly the venom helps, but theoretically it “kick starts” the production of cortisol, a substance similar to cortisone that the body produces naturally. It is known that the substance in the sting is rich in anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and immuno-modulatory properties.

There seems to be no interest in apitherapy by conventional doctors in Israel. The Zacks told us that a few acupuncturists have taken it up and apply the stings to acupuncture points for more focused therapy. For more information on apitherapy in Israel, look at the website of the Israel Apitherapy Center.

Mostly, it’s arranged informally. A family member receives a box with a certain number of bees in it. Gently picking each bee up with tweezers or even her fingers, she sits it down on the patient’s arm or leg. The outraged bee stings its enemy, the patient, and the sting separates, continuing to gently pump its valuable venom in. And so it is done by lay practitioners in countries around the world.

More international apitherapy organizations exist to inform the public and support research into the subject. If you’re considering using bee stings to relieve an ailment, it’s vital to first find out if you’re allergic to them. Afterward, you can choose between a clinic (in China clinics may charge $2.50 per sting) or just getting the bees from a sympathetic beekeeper.

The National Geographic Society has an interesting video on apitherapy:

More on bees and bee products:

Green Your Candles with Beeswax

Honey is Bittersweet in the Middle East

Urban Beekeeping and Colony Collapse Disorder

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