Famine?

[Gerry]

We had a bee crisis here a few years ago. A virus wiped out most of the
hives, domestic and wild--but not all. While this caused great alarm it did
not seem to have a great effect on the harvest.

I noted an incredible array of pollinating insects (wasps, flies, etc)
active in the blossoms of the various flowers. In the past few years the
bees have returned in numbers and all appears to be normal once again.

Conclusion: nature seems to find a way to fill the gap as required.

The mega-agriculture projects in what was once open desert are very
dependent upon bees. These farmers import bees for the season, a rather
strange invasion of the natural way. Perhaps it is this rather desperate
trend in agriculture that has the bee population over-taxed in its "service"
to mankind.

The bottom line from my perspective is that a shortage of pollinators may be
just reward for the effects of poisons in the fields, yet another "whoops!"
in the annals of modern science.
G
----- Original Message -----
From: "Igor Loving" <lovingigor at hotmail.com>
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Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 9:10 AM
Subject: Famine?


>
> monday, March 28, 2005
>
> More than $15 billion in U.S. crops rides each year on the tiny legs of an
> insect.
>
> The honeybee is the major carrier of pollen for seeded fruits and just
about
> anything that grows on a vine. Everything, in other words, from apples to
> zucchini.
>
>
> The bee crisis
>
> Audio:  WPB beekeeper focuses on raising queens
> . The varroa mite has killed or severely weakened an estimated 40 percent
to
> 60 percent of honeybees in the United States during the past six months.
>
> . Millions of acres of U.S. fruit, nut, vegetable, seed and legume crops
> depend on insect pollination. An estimated 80 percent of insect crop
> pollination is accomplished by honeybees.
>
> . Crops that require bees for pollination include apples, avocados,
> blueberries, cherries, cranberries, oranges, grapefruit, sunflowers,
> tangerines and watermelon. In addition, the production of most beef and
> dairy products depends on alfalfa, clover and other plants that require
> pollination.
>
> . Honeybees are ideal for pollination because they can be managed easily
and
> moved to where they are needed. They also will pollinate a wide variety of
> crops without harming the plants.
>
> Sources: American Beekeeping Federation, U.S. Department of Agriculture
>
> "If honeybees ceased to exist, two-thirds of the citrus, all of the
> watermelons, the blueberries, strawberries, pecans and beans would
> disappear," said Jerry Hayes, apiary inspection chief with the state's
> Division of Plant Industry.
>
>
> But now it's the bee itself that is disappearing.
>
>
> Under attack from a Southeast Asian parasite, vast numbers of the
creatures
> are dying off, worried industry experts say. More than 50 percent of the
> bees in California, critical to the success of the Golden State's almond
> crop, have died during the past six months. Frantic growers there have
sent
> out the call around the world, including Florida, for hives.
>
>
> Not only California is suffering the ravages of the determined pest. As
many
> as 40 percent to 60 percent of the bees nationwide have perished during
the
> same six-month period, experts say.
>
>
> "It's the biggest crisis that has ever faced the U.S. beekeeping
industry,"
> said Laurence Cutts of Chipley, president of the Florida State Beekeepers
> Association and a retired apiary inspector with the state Department of
> Agriculture.
>
>
> Cutts lost two-thirds of his beehives to the predator, an eight-legged
> animal no bigger than a grain of salt that attaches itself to a bee and
> slowly sucks out its internal fluids.
>
>
> The pest is the varroa mite, which has been in the United States since
1986,
> when it first showed up in Florida. But the pace of devastation has
> increased only during the past year. An entire hive can be wiped out
within
> less than a year as the parasites, colloquially known as "vampire mites,"
> lodge in a hive and begin to reproduce.
>
>
> "The varroa mites have become resistant to the chemicals we use to kill
> them," said Loxahatchee beekeeper Mark McCoy.
>
>
> McCoy is one of hundreds of beekeepers from around the country and as far
> away as Australia who responded to California's need for an additional
> 400,000 hives. He packed up more than 1,500 hives, housing 30 million-plus
> bees, last month and shipped them west on two flatbed semis.
>
>
> "The bees are the only tool we have to pollinate the trees," said Colleen
> Aguiar, a spokeswoman for the California Almond Board, based in Modesto.
>
>
> The state grows about 80 percent of the global almond crop, which is some
1
> billion pounds of nuts a year. It takes 1.2 million hives to pollinate
those
> groves, Aguiar said.
>
>
> And almonds are only the beginning of the crisis. Apple growers in
Virginia
> normally call on their own state's beekeepers for pollination help, but
not
> this year, said Troy Fore, executive director of the 1,200-member American
> Beekeeping Federation Inc., based in Jesup, Ga.
>
>
> "Now those apple growers have also turned to Florida beekeepers to provide
> pollination because they have lost bees in Virginia to the mite," Fore
said.
>
>
> But Florida itself needs its bees, and some industry observers suggest it
> might already have given away too many.
>
>
> "I really think you will see a crunch here in Florida in a couple of
> months," said David Hackenberg, who operates hives in Dade City and
> Lewisburg, Pa. "A lot of guys have lost a lot of bees. The watermelon guys
> are just starting and they are already scrambling for bees."
>
>
> Hackenberg and others in the business said the state's largest beekeeper,
> Horace Bell of DeLand, sold his more than 40,000 hives to companies in
> California this year and went out of business. That automatically reduces
> Florida's 200,000 bee colonies by 20 percent.
>
>
> A spokeswoman at Bell's office said she could not confirm that Bell had
left
> the business, but did say he was "semi-retired." Bell did not return phone
> calls seeking comment.
>
>
> The honeybee emergency has not gone unnoticed in the scientific community.
>
>
> Hundreds of researchers across the globe are looking for a solution,
either
> through new treatments or by breeding mite-resistant bees. So far, the
> search hasn't yielded much success, said Jay Evans, a geneticist with the
> U.S. Department of Agriculture Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, Md.
>
>
> "Beekeepers need something this year or next to keep their colonies
going,"
> Evans said. "For the longer-term focus, we need to understand how the
mites
> are so successful as parasites and breed bees that have a defense against
> them."
>
>
> The loss of bee hives during the past year has been so catastrophic, Evans
> said, that researchers are questioning whether factors other than the
varroa
> mite are at work.
>
>
> Officials are scrambling for money to get to the heart of the problem.
>
>
> The state Agriculture Department is seeking $300,000 from the legislature
> for bee research. As of Thursday, the request was heading for a conference
> committee, said Carolee Howe, assistant director of agriculture policy at
> the Florida Farm Bureau in Gainesville.
>
>
> The American Bee Federation has asked the federal government for help. The
> group wants the USDA to spend $16 million a year, twice what it now
> allocates, on bee research.
>
>
> Howe said the mite problem is getting worse.
>
>
> "These mites are getting stronger," she said. "One day you will have a
> healthy hive. The next day your hives can be dead."
>
>
> Those who work in the bee industry feel that the crops that don't need
bees
> sometimes get more attention than they do. It's also admittedly difficult
to
> evoke a passion for bees in the public mind, which often views them only
as
> a stinging nuisance.
>
>
> "We have this wonderful insect that can do marvelous things. It's not warm
> and fuzzy," said Hayes, the state apiary inspection chief. "It's not like
a
> manatee. You can't cuddle and pet it.
>
>
> "Yet without it, we have a negative impact on how our society eats. Maybe
we
> can help people not love the bee, but at least appreciate it more."
>
>
>
> Aloha:
> Igor
>
>
>
>