March 27, 2008
Bee Loss Threatens Crop Supply
Americans who give little thought to how food arrives on their tables may not understand just how important bees are to the nation’s food supply. They also probably aren’t aware that there is an agricultural malady, whose cause has yet to be identified, that is spreading across bee colonies and that has beekeepers, farmers and members of Congress deeply concerned about the impact on the nation’s agricultural system.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the name given to identify a situation that has seen whole colonies of bees disappear as adult workers leave the hive never to return. Estimates have put the number of bee colonies lost at 37 percent in the past year. That number, reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is on top of a 30 percent loss the previous year.
“There is a significant crisis going on here,” Dave Mendes, a beekeeper with operations in Florida, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, told the Palm Beach Post.
Nearly one-third of the crops grown in the U.S. are dependent on bees for pollination.
“For major agricultural crops, such as oranges and alfalfa, honeybees alone increase the value of our current crops by about $14 billion,” Frank Drummond, an entomologist and bee expert at the University of Maine, told the Bangor Daily News.
“From an agricultural perspective, Maine has a lot of crops that are entirely dependent on bees, such as apples and blueberries. Without bees, there will be no crop,” Mr. Drummond said.
Crops that depend on bees will also have their prices affected by higher fees. Beekeepers, which transport hives around the country to pollinate crops at set times of the year, have been hit by high fuel prices, and a jump in the cost of sugar from $27 to $46 hundredweight. Bees are fed sugar.
“Ten years ago, it cost $40 a hive,” Mr. Drummond said. “For a highly active hive this spring it could be up to $100.”
While the number of bees lost is alarming enough for the Senate to have authorized $20 million to research the reason behind CCD (a similar bill is stalled in the House), it has not yet reached a point where food supplies should be interrupted.
“We are not yet at the point where our producers can’t get the bees they need,” Mr. Drummond said. “But if colony collapse continues, we will probably get very close to an interruption in supply.”
Maine has been one of the states yet to see hives hit by CCD. While there are no certain answers at this point, some believe it is because bees in the state have not been transported to other parts of the country to pollinate crops.
Aside from commercial bees, there is also concern about the relative health of native bee populations and the impact of CCD on their numbers.
“Just because we don’t have CCD here doesn’t mean we won’t get it,” Mark Plaisted, a beekeeper and former president of the Maine State Beekeepers Association, said. “We don’t know if migratory bees carry CCD or not.”
“I am currently working on a list and, so far, Maine has 270 species of bees. There is a feeling across the U.S. that there is a decline in native bees, but there is a problem in proving that because we don’t have good surveys of bee communities,” said Mr. Drummond.
Discussion Questions: Does Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) represent, as some have suggested, a threat to the nation’s food supply? Should the food industry including organizations representing retailers and foodservice operators unite to find an answer to the problem either on their own or by encouraging swift action by representatives in Washington?
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While CCD is a serious issue and potential threat, scaring the public will not result in any change because there is nothing individual consumers can do to solve the problem. The issues needs to be researched and addressed.
Consumers have no control over this. Consumers need to be educated and told what they can do. AND there needs to be a clear distinction between saving the honey bees and eliminating killer bees. A bee is not a bee is not a bee.
Congratulations! This is a very serious scenario and I’m so glad it is getting attention. CCD is affecting farmers across the country. Maybe I come from a different perspective since I live on a farm in Kentucky but Florida citrus growers are having to ship bees in and the cost of honey has risen astronomically. Forget about the price, honey couldn’t be found on the shelves of stores unless imported.
So, yes, CCD is a major concern to all and the unfortunate thing is many are not aware of this possible disaster. The agricultural department, foodservice, government organizations, and consumers should all unite to find an answer to the problem. We don’t know what is causing this problem and we don’t know what else is be affected. What we don’t know could kill more than the bees!
First and foremost, CCD seems to be a threat to the beekeeping industry itself. Hence the feeble attempts at congressional action.
It’s not quite clear to me whether the “loss” of 30-50% of bees transported across the country by truck is abnormal. If I were a “free agent” bee subjected to that kind of migrant worker lifestyle, I might go AWOL too.
The experts have theories, but no clarity on whether CCD has a causal agent (pick one: pesticides, genetically modified crops, microwaves from cell towers, evil parasites, viral infection due to overcrowding on those 18-wheelers they travel in…).
That’s not to say the buzz around this topic is unjustified. Large portions of our food supply depend on the pollinators. Used to be that family farms kept a few hives, so the population was diverse and spread across the nation. Today, beekeeping has become a concentrated agribusiness like so many other forms of food production in America.
Finally–to address the killer bee myth–everybody’s afraid of them, but here in Arizona, ALL the bees are hybrid Africanized, and they seldom bother anyone. The wild populations are in plentiful evidence when we work or play outdoors. Beekeepers can learn to husband them. Maybe this could be part of the solution?
If this is true, it is a bigger threat than terrorism. Global warming wouldn’t even be considered an issue compared to this. What is sad is that if any of the presidential candidates were to talk about this they would be laughed at. If this keeps up though, no one will be laughing.
This is a very serious subject that can threaten the efficacy of the food supply for an entire hemisphere.
But I can’t help picturing John Belushi in his Killer Bee costume on Saturday Night Live….
I obviously live in Brooklyn (NY) and I believe that the lack of “wild” bees in contributing to the problem. I grew up here and when I was little there were bees everywhere in NYC. If you didn’t bother them, they didn’t bother you. Over the years, many property owners destroyed the nests. I rarely see a bee here anymore. We need to learn to live within the environment rather than always trying to change everything to fit what we think our needs are.
CCD is serious. If all the colonies collapsed, human life would be wiped off the earth. Even if a high percentage of the colonies collapse we could be in for a world of trouble.
The answer to the potential crisis lies in science–not lobbying. This has the potential to be a very, very serious problem and we should address it with very, very serious resources.
As a bee keeper I can tell you the problem is serious. CCD is just the latest salvo at the bees. We do not have commercial bees and coincidently or not, we have not seen the same problems as commercial farmers have. We also follow less invasive practices to keep our hives strong. We also don’t give them sugar syrup but opt to let them keep their honey (better for them).
Why do I mention this? Big business often tends to focus on the almighty dollar at the expense of everything else, some believe this way of thinking is beginning to catch up with us–I’m one of them.
Bat populations (think natural pest control) are also now being decimated as well–no one knows why yet. My guess is human activity is contributing to these and a whole host of other problems not in the main media yet. Maybe now’s the time to take stock of what we have and determine where we need to draw the line of profit at any cost. The bees could be our canary in the mine.
120 crops (and their assorted varieties) are estimated to be affected by CCD. So the apple, and every species of it, and all the by-products, would be gone if this comes to fruition.
One poster mentioned bees in NYC. Bees can actually do very well in cities because they are generally warmer than outlying areas. So as an example, urban beekeeping in the NW is increasing in popularity as a means of offsetting CCD. It’s sort of tied to the local foods movement, but there’s a lot of 20 and 30-somethings tending bees in small hives in the city.
Some other things people are doing is replacing non-flowering plants with flowering ones to promote opportunities for bee health. We dumped all our little shrubby plants and replaced them with food plants (berries, fruit trees).
There are many of us in the NW who believe it isn’t just $$ from Congress that’s going to help this…it’s going to be up to individuals and communities to change some things environmentally to encourage bee health.
If everyone in the fruit business paid 1 cent a pound towards focused agricultural research, Colony Collapse Disorder and many other farming issues could be solved. Of course the pennies would really be paid by the customers, so no farmer would suffer. The actual number of competent folks working full-time on CCD is totally inadequate.
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While CCD is a serious issue and potential threat, scaring the public will not result in any change because there is nothing individual consumers can do to solve the problem. The issues needs to be researched and addressed.
Consumers have no control over this. Consumers need to be educated and told what they can do. AND there needs to be a clear distinction between saving the honey bees and eliminating killer bees. A bee is not a bee is not a bee.
Congratulations! This is a very serious scenario and I’m so glad it is getting attention. CCD is affecting farmers across the country. Maybe I come from a different perspective since I live on a farm in Kentucky but Florida citrus growers are having to ship bees in and the cost of honey has risen astronomically. Forget about the price, honey couldn’t be found on the shelves of stores unless imported.
So, yes, CCD is a major concern to all and the unfortunate thing is many are not aware of this possible disaster. The agricultural department, foodservice, government organizations, and consumers should all unite to find an answer to the problem. We don’t know what is causing this problem and we don’t know what else is be affected. What we don’t know could kill more than the bees!
First and foremost, CCD seems to be a threat to the beekeeping industry itself. Hence the feeble attempts at congressional action.
It’s not quite clear to me whether the “loss” of 30-50% of bees transported across the country by truck is abnormal. If I were a “free agent” bee subjected to that kind of migrant worker lifestyle, I might go AWOL too.
The experts have theories, but no clarity on whether CCD has a causal agent (pick one: pesticides, genetically modified crops, microwaves from cell towers, evil parasites, viral infection due to overcrowding on those 18-wheelers they travel in…).
That’s not to say the buzz around this topic is unjustified. Large portions of our food supply depend on the pollinators. Used to be that family farms kept a few hives, so the population was diverse and spread across the nation. Today, beekeeping has become a concentrated agribusiness like so many other forms of food production in America.
Finally–to address the killer bee myth–everybody’s afraid of them, but here in Arizona, ALL the bees are hybrid Africanized, and they seldom bother anyone. The wild populations are in plentiful evidence when we work or play outdoors. Beekeepers can learn to husband them. Maybe this could be part of the solution?
If this is true, it is a bigger threat than terrorism. Global warming wouldn’t even be considered an issue compared to this. What is sad is that if any of the presidential candidates were to talk about this they would be laughed at. If this keeps up though, no one will be laughing.
This is a very serious subject that can threaten the efficacy of the food supply for an entire hemisphere.
But I can’t help picturing John Belushi in his Killer Bee costume on Saturday Night Live….
I obviously live in Brooklyn (NY) and I believe that the lack of “wild” bees in contributing to the problem. I grew up here and when I was little there were bees everywhere in NYC. If you didn’t bother them, they didn’t bother you. Over the years, many property owners destroyed the nests. I rarely see a bee here anymore. We need to learn to live within the environment rather than always trying to change everything to fit what we think our needs are.
CCD is serious. If all the colonies collapsed, human life would be wiped off the earth. Even if a high percentage of the colonies collapse we could be in for a world of trouble.
The answer to the potential crisis lies in science–not lobbying. This has the potential to be a very, very serious problem and we should address it with very, very serious resources.
As a bee keeper I can tell you the problem is serious. CCD is just the latest salvo at the bees. We do not have commercial bees and coincidently or not, we have not seen the same problems as commercial farmers have. We also follow less invasive practices to keep our hives strong. We also don’t give them sugar syrup but opt to let them keep their honey (better for them).
Why do I mention this? Big business often tends to focus on the almighty dollar at the expense of everything else, some believe this way of thinking is beginning to catch up with us–I’m one of them.
Bat populations (think natural pest control) are also now being decimated as well–no one knows why yet. My guess is human activity is contributing to these and a whole host of other problems not in the main media yet. Maybe now’s the time to take stock of what we have and determine where we need to draw the line of profit at any cost. The bees could be our canary in the mine.
120 crops (and their assorted varieties) are estimated to be affected by CCD. So the apple, and every species of it, and all the by-products, would be gone if this comes to fruition.
One poster mentioned bees in NYC. Bees can actually do very well in cities because they are generally warmer than outlying areas. So as an example, urban beekeeping in the NW is increasing in popularity as a means of offsetting CCD. It’s sort of tied to the local foods movement, but there’s a lot of 20 and 30-somethings tending bees in small hives in the city.
Some other things people are doing is replacing non-flowering plants with flowering ones to promote opportunities for bee health. We dumped all our little shrubby plants and replaced them with food plants (berries, fruit trees).
There are many of us in the NW who believe it isn’t just $$ from Congress that’s going to help this…it’s going to be up to individuals and communities to change some things environmentally to encourage bee health.
If everyone in the fruit business paid 1 cent a pound towards focused agricultural research, Colony Collapse Disorder and many other farming issues could be solved. Of course the pennies would really be paid by the customers, so no farmer would suffer. The actual number of competent folks working full-time on CCD is totally inadequate.