A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually
pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly
fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on
a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac Browning, vice president of the American
Beekeeping Federation.
The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some
beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent;
beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal.
Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the insecticides used to try to kill mites are
harming the ability of queen bees to spawn as many worker bees. The queens are living half
as long as they did just a few years ago.
Researchers are also concerned that the willingness of beekeepers to truck their colonies
from coast to coast could be adding to bees’ stress, helping to spread viruses and
mites and otherwise accelerating whatever is afflicting them.
Growers have tried before to do without bees. In past decades, they have used everything
from giant blowers to helicopters to mortar shells to try to spread pollen across the
plants. More recently researchers have been trying to develop “self-compatible”
almond trees that will require fewer bees. One company is even trying to commercialize the
blue orchard bee, which is virtually stingless and works at colder temperatures than the
honeybee.
Beekeepers have endured two major mite infestations since the 1980s, which felled many
hobbyist beekeepers, and three cases of unexplained disappearing disorders as far back as
1894. But those episodes were confined to small areas, Mr. van Engelsdorp said.
Today the industry is in a weaker position to deal with new stresses. A flood of imported
honey from China and Argentina has depressed honey prices and put more pressure on
beekeepers to take to the road in search of pollination contracts. Beekeepers are trucking
tens of billions of bees around the country every year.
Beekeepers now earn many times more renting their bees out to pollinate crops than in
producing honey. Two years ago a lack of bees for the California almond crop caused bee
rental prices to jump, drawing beekeepers from the East Coast.
This year the price for a bee colony is about $135, up from $55 in 2004, said Joe Traynor,
a bee broker in Bakersfield, Calif.
A typical bee colony ranges from 15,000 to 30,000 bees. But beekeepers’ costs are
also on the rise. In the past decade, fuel, equipment and even bee boxes have doubled and
tripled in price.
The cost to control mites has also risen, along with the price of queen bees, which cost
about $15 each, up from $10 three years ago.
To give bees energy while they are pollinating, beekeepers now feed them protein
supplements and a liquid mix of sucrose and corn syrup carried in tanker-sized trucks
costing $12,000 per load. Over all, Mr. Bradshaw figures, in recent years he has spent
$145 a hive annually to keep his bees alive, for a profit of about $11 a hive, not
including labor expenses. The last three years his net income has averaged $30,000 a year
from his 4,200 bee colonies, he said.
The USDA projects that something like 40% of our vegetables are going to be coming
from China in 2012 or some date like that and the U. S. is going to be a net food importer
in fifty years.
We already have someone who has us by the nose for energy production, oil (Middle East).
And so now, we’re going to turn our food production over to someone else? This all
has larger strategic implications than just honey bees. This is talking about the food
supply and how secure our food supply is in the United States? |
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