(CBS) This segment was originally broadcast on Oct. 28, 2007. It was updated on Feb. 21, 2008.
If you want to grow fruits, vegetables or nuts in the United States on a commercial basis you have to have soil, sun, seeds, water, and honeybees — millions and millions of honeybees brought in from all over the country to pollinate the crops. As correspondent Steve Kroft explains, honeybees are the unsung heroes of the food chain, crucial to the production of one third of the foods we eat. So when billions of bees began to mysteriously disappear last year, there was plenty of concern and no shortage of theories, blaming everything from cell phones to divine rapture. None of the usual explanations seemed to fit. Some of the nation’s top scientists are trying to understand this phenomenon, but no one is more immersed in the mystery than the man who is widely credited with discovering it.
Lewisburg, Pa., has a population of 6,000 people and 88 million bees — enough to sting every resident of New York, California, and Texas combined. The bees belong to David Hackenberg and his family, who have been keeping them for almost half a century.
“It’s the most unique thing in nature there is. I mean you stick your head inside that beehive, and it’s, you know, it’s something about bees that just makes the rest of the world just seem to go away,” Hackenberg says.
Hackenberg says he gets along with his bees “fine.”
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Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years
By Jasper Copping
Honeybees will die out in Britain within a decade as virulent diseases and parasites spread through the nation’s hives, experts have warned.
Whole colonies of bees are already being wiped out, with current methods of pest control unable to stop the problem.
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| Disease is killing off Britain’s honeybees |
The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said that if the crisis continued, honeybees would disappear completely from Britain by 2018, causing “calamitous” economic and environmental problems.
It called on the Government to restart shelved research programmes and to fund new ones to try to save the insects.
Tim Lovett, the association’s president, said: “The situation has become insupportable and the Government is unwilling to take steps to avoid disaster.
“We’re increasingly unable to cope with threats as they arise. No bees means a huge cost to agriculture, without touching on the ecological and environmental issues. We’re facing calamitous results.”
Last year, more than 11 per cent of all beehives inspected were wiped out, although losses were higher in some areas.
In London, about 4,000 hives - two-thirds of the bee colonies in the capital - were estimated to have died over last winter. Of the eight colonies inspected so far this year, all have been wiped out.
The losses are being blamed on Colony Collapse Disorder, a disease that has severely affected bee populations in America and Europe, and a resistant form of Varroa destructor, a parasitic mite that affects bees.
The decline in honeybees is risking the sustainability of home-grown food. They pollinate more than 90 of the flowering crops we rely on for food. They are estimated to contribute more than £1 billion a year to the national economy yet the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), spends an average of only £200,000 a year on research to protect them.
The BBKA will this week launch a campaign aimed at forcing ministers to take the plight of the bee more seriously, and to spend the £8 million over the next five years which it believes is essential to guarantee its survival.
At their annual meeting held earlier this month, the association’s 11,200 members voted unanimously to condemn the Government’s position.
At a showdown meeting, between Lord Rooker, the farming minister, and the BBKA last month, the minister refused to increase the spending, even though in November, he appeared to admit the severity of the threat, when he said: “If we do not do anything, the chances are that in 10 years’ time we will not have any honeybees.”
Mr Lovett added: “Defra has been alerted, but chooses to take no action. If nothing happens, we may not even have to wait 10 years.”
Professor Francis Ratniek, a bee expert at Sheffield University, said: “If there was to be a bee collapse the effect on Britain would be huge.
“In Britain we haven’t had our fair share of bee research funds and research into bee disease has decreased just as the threat to colonies is increasing. A complete die-off is a worst case scenario.”
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The Honey Bee Crisis of 2007
© Sally Morton
Feb 17, 2007
The honey bee crisis of 2005, which was blamed on the Varoa mite, decimated as much as 50% of honey bee populations in the US, but was weathered, overcome, and quickly passed out of most people’s vocabulary. I wrote an article about it for Suite 101. In it, I gave a fruit, vegetable, nut and wild plant list dependent upon insect pollination.
Approximately 80% of all insect pollination is accomplished by honey bees. According to the University of California at Davis publication “Don’t Underestimate the Value of Honey Bees,” the remaining 20% of other insect pollinators are drastically reduced in number as well, making one wonder if the problem is the varoa mite or something else affecting the broader insect world.
The year 2006 passed seemingly without incident relating to honey bees and I breathed a sigh of relief. Why is it worrisome when bees die by the thousands? Three words: global food supply. The lowly honey bee is required for the pollination of a wide range of plants, affecting everything from clover (think cows) to fruits to vegetable seeds. Honey bee-pollinated crops represent more than $15 billion annually to the economy. That does not even take into consideration indirectly affected items, such as beef, milk, cheese, wild animals, or birds.
The problem is that 2006 did not pass without incident—it passed without media-reported incident. It was in the fall of 2006 when a distressed Pennsylvania beekeeper, Dave Hackenberg, reported to researchers at Pennsylvania State University that he had lost about 2,000 hives. To give you an idea of how many bees that is—each hive contains around 50,000 bees in summer. The mysterious bee ailment was dubbed “Colony Collapse Disorder.”
The last three months of 2006, beekeepers up and down the East Coast of the US were quietly reporting large bee losses. Alarm bells were ringing in the “beekeeper world.” By January of 2007, it had spread beyond the Eastern US and Western states were also reporting bee losses. As beekeepers in colder regions start reporting their bee colony status in spring, the figures are expected to rise even higher.
This week, I’ve learned that the honey bee crisis in the U.S. is back and its worse than ever. Or did it ever really leave? Two types of parasitic mites invaded the US—tracheal mites in 1984 and varroa mites in 1987. Bee populations have been steadily declining ever since.
In February of 2007, I read the first mainstream media article I’d seen on this year’s bee crisis, which said that beekeepers from 22 states so far have reported decimation of hives by as much as 80%, varying in degree of severity.
As I set out to find more information from leading authorities in the industry, I decided the best people to ask were the bee experts at the American Bee Federation. When I first clicked on their website’s homepage, I was greeted with this quote from a January 2007 Penn State press release:
“An alarming die-off of honey bees has beekeepers fighting for commercial survival and crop growers wondering whether bees will be available to pollinate their crops this spring and summer…” The losses were called “unprecedented” by Penn State Agriculture Extension Associate, Mary Ann Frazier.
Although the honey bee crisis of 2005 was attributed to the varoa mite, the 2006-2007 malady is of unknown origin. Researchers have been unable to isolate a common cause. While they have found numerous disease organisms present in dying bee populations, along with a few common management issues, the common link affecting all the populations continues to elude investigators. Dennis vanEngelsdorp, acting state apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture said, “Preliminary work has identified several likely factors that could be causing or contributing to CCD. Among them are mites and associated diseases, some unknown pathogenic disease and pesticide contamination or poisoning.”
University and federal researchers, state regulatory officials, cooperative extension educators, and industry representatives have joined together to research the current bee crisis. The beekeeping industry, including the American Beekeeping Federation, The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, and the National Honey Board are all actively engaged in the effort.
The Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) is “a regional effort to address the pest management crisis facing the beekeeping industry in the Mid-Atlantic Region.” According to MAAREC, its mandate is: “Exploring the cause or causes of honey bee colony collapse and finding appropriate strategies to reduce colony loss in the future.”
It’s hard for many to imagine how something as small and pesky as a honey bee could play such an important role in global food supply, but it does. Since the decline of insect pollinators fits into an emerging global pattern of insect pollinator decline, shouldn’t the current US honey bee crisis be investigated from a wider world view?
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© Sally Morton
Mar 20, 2006
There is a crisis underway but few people know about it. An estimated 40-60 percent of honey bees in the United States died or were severely weakened in 2005. California has the largest beekeeping industry and lost 50 percent of their honey bees in 2005. State governments, and even other countries (notably Australia), responded to the crisis of 2005, but it remains to be seen how agriculture will fare in 2006.
While the US weathered the honey bee crisis of 2005, the varoa mite, unseasonably warm winter temperatures (tricking bees into thinking it was spring), and higher prices for bee pollination continue to affect American agriculture in 2006. According to a March 8, 2006 article in BBC News, Almond Farmers Seek Healthy Bees, “…in 2004, beekeepers could get, on average, $54 for every hive they sent to almond groves in California. Last year, prices peaked at about $85, and in 2006 there are reports of owners charging more than $150.” That increased cost, along with higher gas prices for trucking, will be passed along to consumers.
The unprecedented honey bee destruction has been blamed on the varroa mite. According to most authorities, the mites have become resistent to pesticides. Originating in Asia, the mite became a problem in the US two decades ago.
Many fruit, nut, vegetable, legume, and seed crops depend on pollination. Pollination is “the transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of a plant or flower in the process of fertilization. Pollination occurs when insects brush against and pick up the pollen from one flower and then carry it to another flower.”¹
Per U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics:
Other insects that accomplish the remaining 20% of pollination are also drastically reduced.²
The honey bee shortage affects apple growers in Virginia, almond growers in California (which produces 80% of global almond supply), and watermelon growers in Florida.
Some crops that require pollination are: apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, melons, oranges, grapefruit, pumpkins, squash, sunflowers, tangerines, and watermelon. Also, forage plants like clover and alfalfa need pollination (and cows need clover).
Perhaps the greatest value of honey bee pollination is seeds destined for worldwide distribution: 20 vegetables produce seeds only if their flowers are pollinated.² Direct and indirect effects cannot be estimated: ornamental shrubs and trees, wild plants (on which wild animals and birds forage), beeswax, honey…
Unless the honey bee shortage is rectified, the United States may suffer a shortage in quantity and quality of pollinated crops, beef and dairy products. Already, it means higher prices. This may be great news for commodities traders, but it’s bad news for families. Additionally, it would have a ripple effect in the world economy and global seed supplies.
There’s an old farmer’s saying: “Nature gives first warnings.” Let’s hope there is a speedy solution to the honey bee shortage, and that scientists figure out what other factors might be at work.
Proof Bees Dying from GM Crops? 5-12-7
i dont really understand all of this but i do know that honeybees are a huge help to the enviorment. im a pest control tech. in tenn. and im very concerned about the loss of the honeybees. i have a couple customers who have lots of hives of their own and the bees had a hard time last year with the drought. i think something should be done very soon. they are very very important wether people believe it or not. please get it taken care of whatever it takes.
By: rhonda arnold on March 3, 2008
at 7:22 am
