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| wild honey bee hive, Vacaville, CA: Garvey |
The strange syndrome that is killing bees appears to be getting worse, and is causing farmers who rely on their pollination activity alarm. The sickness has been attributed to a number of individual causes ranging from fungi and parasites to neonicotinoids a class of commonly used pesticides. Europe is debating banning these systemic chemicals, but that action is opposed by the pesticide manufacturers and their political supporters. No action has yet been taken in the US against the use of neonicotinoids. Yet commercial beekeepers say the disease has drastically expanded this year, wiping out up to 50% of colonies needed to pollinate the nation's fruit and vegetable crops. The US Agricultural Department bee research laboratory is due to issue an assessment in May, but a USDA researcher told the
New York Times the bee death rate has been "much more than it's ever been". The rising use of neonicotinoids has roughly tracked the rising bee mortality rate. The key difference between neonicotinoids and older types of pesticides is that neonicotinoids persist in the environment and are embedded in the entire plant including seeds and pollen. Bees are therefore chronically exposed to these chemicals and others such as herbicides and fungicides. A researcher at UC Davis has identified 150 chemical residues in pollen and wax gathered from beehives. Weakened bees cannot survive the winter and
the winter of 2012-13 was bad for bees due to a shortage of nectar. Transportation to far distant fields also further stresses weakened colonies.
Beekeepers transport their commercial bee workers to the groves and fields of California and other sunbelt agricultural areas in the spring. In the San Joaquin Valley 1.6 million hives were recently used to pollinate the vast almond crop. But apiarists suffered devastating bee loses. One Montana beekeeper lost 10,000 hives, and the nations largest apiary in South Dakota lost 55% of its colonies. Normally loses were around 5% to 10%. When the disease was first identified in 2005, losses increased to around a third. Now a new level of destruction appears to have been reached. Of course the destruction of pollinators means smaller harvests that will increase the cost of food. Around a quarter of the American diet depends on pollination by honey bees. Some beekeepers are taking a pass on shipping their insect workers to the Californian groves to avoid possible contamination, but farmers there are desperate to rent bees to pollinate their nuts, fruits and vegetables, paying up to $200 per hive or a 20% premium. Its not the sky falling, it's the bees, Mr Adee.
