Disappearing bee colonies hurt entire food chain, experts say
Posted on June 30th, 2008By Sara Goodman
The U.S commercial honey bee industry has lost a record 36 percent of its colonies so far this year due to a mysterious illness that threatens the future of beekeeping and the health of a variety of important crops, a panel of experts told a House Agriculture subcommittee yesterday.
The honey bee industry is valued at more than $15 billion, with nearly 130 different crops dependent on pollination to grow. With so much at stake, the panel of beekeepers, farmers and scientists stressed the importance of getting to the bottom of what is causing the decline, known as “colony collapse disorder.”
“Congress needs to understand that the problem of a lack of bees needed to pollinate the very foods we consume every day is a real and growing problem that needs to be studied, addressed and corrected,” Robert Edwards, a farmer from North Carolina, told the Horticulture Subcommittee. “Bees are as important to our crops as the water and sunshine.”
Pollinators are responsible for the reproduction of 75 percent of the world’s flowering plants, most of which are crop species. The Agriculture Department estimates one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honey bee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination (E&E Daily, June 23).
This year’s farm bill authorizes several programs focused on pollinator-related issues, including the development and protection of pollinator habitats in conservation programs. In addition, it identifies pollinator protection as high priority research and covers bees and honey production in agriculture disaster assistance programs. It also requires USDA to report annually on the progress made in addressing colony losses.
‘More than just a beekeeping problem’
In the 18 months since CCD first emerged, scientists have not been able to figure out what exactly is wreaking havoc in the colonies. Since it first appeared, the damage has increased. The 36 percent decline is up from 31 percent during the same period last year.
Scientists have suggested several hypotheses including viruses and other pathogens, parasites, environmental stresses, poor nutrition, transport stresses and pesticides, as well as combinations of all of those factors. Last year, a group of scientists linked the bee decline to an imported virus, the Israeli acute paralysis virus (E&ENews PM, Sept. 6, 2007).
“It is my opinion that CCD is more than just a beekeeping problem,” said David Mendes, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation Inc. “There is something in the environment that is making our bees sick.”
Several experts yesterday also pointed to the use of pesticides as a serious cause for concern, although there have not been any direct links between pesticide use and CCD.
Edward Knipling, USDA’s administrator for the Agricultural Research Service, said there is ongoing research into the role pesticides have played in CCD. While there has not yet been a confirmed association, he said the research will continue to definitively confirm or reject a correlation.
But Edwards cautioned against pointing fingers at any one cause as a way to find a quick fix to the problem. “Pesticides can be easy scapegoats but we need to be careful,” he said, stressing that the magnitude of the problem indicated a variety of causes.
Most researchers agree that the issue is not caused by a single factor, and are now looking at multi-factorial analyses of the data, hoping to highlight which factors, when combined, could be causing CCD, said Maryann Frazier, researcher at Pennsylvania State University.
“Factors likely working together … are stressing the bees (and the beekeepers) beyond their abilities to cope,” she said.
Edwards, the farmer from North Carolina, said his farm has been forced to reduce its acreage of cucumbers by 50 percent because of the lack of honey bees needed to pollinate the crops. “The simple fact is, no honey bee, no cucumber,” he said.
The reduction in the number of bees able to pollinate crops has led to surviving colonies being shipped all over the country, with at least two major consequences. The first is that farmers are forced to pay higher costs to rent the bees for shorter amounts of time, so the window for pollination decreases.
The second impact is the stress that transporting the bees could have on those colonies. “We need to avoid compounding one problem by unintentionally creating others that could make the situation far worse,” said Laurie Davies Adams, executive director of the nonprofit group the Pollinator Partnership. “Imported species intended for a good use can quickly become out-of-control invasive species.”
Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream
In an effort to speed up the research, industry has gotten involved, with Häagen-Dazs pledging $250,000 to fund sustainable pollination and CCD research at the University of California-Davis, and is running a “Help the Honey Bees” campaign.
Earlier this week, Häagen-Dazs joined with others to give away Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream in the Capitol, trying to raise awareness at how much of the U.S. food supply is affected by pollinators.
For example, the company depends on pollinators for more than 40 percent of its flavors. To produce the “vanilla swiss almond” and “rocky road” flavors, Häagen-Dazs uses more than 1 million pounds of almonds per year — and almonds are entirely dependent on honey bees for pollination.