Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on May 25, 2012 22:06:27 GMT 1
TREASURE VALLEY — You may not think about it at mealtime, but those fruits and veggies you’re about to eat were able to grow because of the honey bee.
Bees have made national headlines recently as scientists try to figure out what’s been causing their population to decline at alarming rates since 2006.
“Talking to the big keepers that run thousands of hives, they haven’t seen it this way in their careers, in their lives,” said Susan Kegley, head of the Pesticide Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif. “... They don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in business if it keeps going like this.”
The most recent bee-killer culprit? Neonicotinoid insecticides, which are safer for fieldworkers than other chemicals but, as some studies say, aren’t too friendly toward the bees.
“Most pesticides will harm bees if they’re exposed to it. The issue is, are they really being exposed to it?” said Mike Cooper, bureau chief of the Plant Industries Division of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.
Neonicotinoid insecticides may not be as prevalent here as in Midwestern states that grow a lot of corn. But the bee population level is a constant concern in Idaho, which has about 100 commercial beekeepers with a total of about 100,000 hives, Cooper said.
Beekeepers often use the bees to pollinate fields in Idaho and nearby states, so each lost hive is a lost opportunity. Hives can cost about $200 each.
“If we were in the cattle business, we would be out of business,” Greenleaf commercial beekeeper Bill Ahaus said. “...It’s a big hit on beekeepers trying to replace colonies every year.”
Ahaus loses about 30 percent of his hives each year — the same rate of loss estimated by commercial beekeeper Jay Miller in Blackfoot.
Colony collapse disorder
But they’re not quick to point a finger at insecticides for the increased death rate of bees — also referred to as colony collapse disorder.
Bees face a number of harmful factors, like poor management of the hives’ temperature, buildup of pesticides in the hive, low protein levels, viruses and varroa mites.
The beekeeping industry is so small there’s not a lot of money to research bee health, Miller said.
“We’ve had to piggyback on the research of other animal sciences.”
But the challenges are making beekeepers wiser, and some groups, alarmed by declining bee rates, are conducting studies that will be released this summer.
“Beekeepers have lost a lot of bees, but in the long run this colony collapse disorder has actually made us better,” Ahaus said.
The declining bee population is actually a double-edged sword, Miller said, because it means he can charge more for pollination services. But he’s also at risk of losing one-half to two-thirds of his bees, like he’s seen happen to several acquaintances in the industry.
“(Beekeepers) are trying to stay ahead of the Grim Reaper that takes out so many of your bees,” he said.
The science of beekeeping is still a work in progress, and in the long run, breeding for more resilient genetics in the bees may be part of the solution, Cooper said.
Honey bee stats
•Worker bees live about six weeks in the summer and several months during fall and winter.
•Nationwide, colonies used for honey production have dropped by about 50 percent in the last decade, said Susan Kegley, head of the Pesticide Research Institute.
•Idaho has about 100 commercial beekeepers with a total of about 100,000 hives. “Idaho has a tremendous number of beehives for the population of the state,” commercial beekeeper Bill Ahaus said.
•To be a commercial beekeeper in Idaho, you must have at least 50 hives and get a license from the state.
•Almond crops in California require more than half the U.S. bee population to pollinate, commercial beekeeper Jay Miller of Blackfoot said.
•Every third bite of food is provided by the pollination of bees, Kegley said, like almonds, fruits and vegetables.
•In the U.S., pollination services are valued at $15 billion, Kegley said.
•There are places in China where bees have been killed off, likely by pesticides, Kegley said, so farmers have to pollinate the crops.
•The number of commercial beekeepers is declining as people retire, said Mike Cooper with the Idaho Department of Agriculture, but hobbyist beekeepers are skyrocketing among all ages.
“For 10 to 15 years I could count the hobbyists on both hands, and now I can’t even keep up,” he said. “... I think the colony collapse issue has brought the issue to the forefront of people’s interest.”
Source: www.idahopress.com/news/local/life-without-bees-not-so-sweet/article_e4e3bc9c-a3d4-11e1-b288-0019bb2963f4.html
