The Hushing Buzz of Bees

In 2006, farmers around the country noticed a significant decline in their honey bee populations.

“Thirty years ago, there were nearly 4 million bee colonies in the U.S. Today, fewer than 2.5 million remain, thanks to a reddish-brown parasite so tiny it could stand on the head of a pin, and to a malady so new no one is sure of its origin.” said Hannah Nordhaus in her March 07 High Country News article, The Silence of the Bees.

Why was this a big deal? Plants need pollinators to help the plant create seeds. This ensures a good crop for the next year. California took drastic steps and imported millions of honey bees to do the job last year. This video, Better Bees: Super Bees and Wild Bees, produced by KQED really describes the problem and outlines how scientists and farmers are planning to handle it.

Many of the problems are linked to the way we produce food now, in large monocultural fields. The entire field flowers at once, attracting native pollinators, but the rest of the year the field has no flowers, no reason for the bees to hang around. Farmers are realizing that a diversity of crops that flower at different times of the year are proving to attract more native species and increase pollination.

So, since 2007 has there been any improvement? According to Juliana Barbassa of the AP, “A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation’s commercially managed hives lost since last year.” This was written May 7 of this year in her article, Survey Shows US Honey Bee Deaths Increased Over Last Year.

Does anybody know details about the current bee situation here in our valley? Are there farmers who are running into pollination issues locally?

Photo: Local Bee Near Midland Road - Abdelnour