The entrance to the woodcut hive leads to a real hive mounted on the back of the sign. The UC Davis campus has had an active bee research program for over 65 years. This campus has been designated administratively as the center of research, teaching, graduate training, and extension activities in the area of apiculture and bee biology for the entire UC system, which includes nine campuses distributed throughout California. The Bee Biology Facility is located approximately two miles west of the central campus area near the University Airport and within an agricultural satellite area where there are other similar specialized research facilities. This unique research and teaching facility is essential because honey bees are so important for pollinating most of California's agricultural crops.
Honey bees are as vital to many crops as water, fertilizer, and sunlight.
For example, almonds cannot be grown at all without bee pollination. Healthy bees in abundant populations require a research staff to solve continuing problems concerning nutrition, breeding, pathology, parasitology, toxicology, behavior, cultural techniques, and general management practices under field conditions. The Facility is located in the Sacramento Valley, where conditions in the field are ideal for bee research. Apis bee species. Within this overall area there is a very active beekeeping industry, with literally thousands of hives that are available for research purposes.