US Honeybee Losses Soar Over Last
Year, USDA Finds
May 26, 2015
Story at-a-glance
-
From April 2014 to April 2015, losses of honeybee
colonies hit 42 percent, which is the second highest
annual loss to date
-
The USDA considers 18.7 percent to be the benchmark
beyond which honeybee losses become economically
unsustainable
-
Without bees, the fruits, vegetables, nuts, and
seeds that you may currently take for granted at
your grocery store could cease to exist
By Dr. Mercola
A world without bees would be a very different place. Bees
are pollinators – and critical ones at that. Of the 100
different crops that make up 90 percent of the world’s diet,
bees pollinate 70.
The crops that make up about one out of every three bites of
food depend on bees to flourish. Without bees, the fruits,
vegetables, nuts, and seeds that you may currently take for
granted at your grocery store could cease to exist… and along
with them, the many other species that depend on them for food.
In an effort to show the critical importance of bees, one
Whole Foods store removed all produce from plants dependent on
pollinators. This involved pulling 237 of 453 products (or 52
percent) from the shelves. A sampling of the produce that
disappeared without bees included the following:1
Apples |
Onions |
Avocados |
Carrots |
Mangos |
Lemons |
Limes |
Honeydew |
Cantaloupe |
Zucchini |
Summer squash |
Eggplant |
Cucumbers |
Celery |
Green onions |
Cauliflower |
Leeks |
Bok choy |
Kale |
Broccoli |
Broccoli rabe |
Mustard greens |
|
|
Honeybee Losses Soar in the US
In the 1940s, there were 5 million managed honeybee colonies
in the US. Today there are half that number, while demand for
pollination services (for crops including almonds, berries, and
more) has increased.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which is basically defined as
a dead bee colony with no adult bees, or a colony with a live
queen and only immature bees present, is often blamed for the
ongoing honeybee losses, but no “official” cause has been named.
According to the USDA’s internal research agency, the
Agricultural Research Service (ARS):2
“Colony losses from CCD are a very serious problem
for beekeepers. Annual losses from the winter of 2006-2011
averaged about 33 percent each year, with a third of these
losses attributed to CCD by beekeepers. The winter of
2011-2012 was an exception, when total losses dropped to 22
percent.
A 1-year drop is too short a time period to count as
definitive improvement in honey bee colony survivorship. At
least 2 to 3 years of consistently lower loss percentages is
necessary before it is possible to be sure that CCD is on
the decline.”
Indeed, the latest numbers from the USDA show that honeybee
losses are, in fact, continuing to climb. From April 2014 to
April 2015, losses of honeybee colonies hit 42 percent, which is
the second highest annual loss to date.3
This percentage is down from 45 percent in 2012-2013, but
remained well above the three prior years’ annual measurements.
Honeybee Losses Are Occurring at an ‘Economically Unsustainable’
Level
The USDA considers 18.7 percent to be the benchmark beyond
which the losses become economically unsustainable. Even at the
33 percent level, ARS noted:4
“If losses continue at the 33 percent level, it could
threaten the economic viability of the bee pollination
industry. Honey bees would not disappear entirely, but the
cost of honey bee pollination services would rise, and those
increased costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers
through higher food costs.”
Jeff Pettis, a USDA senior entomologist, told Reuters
regarding the latest numbers:5
"Such high colony losses in the summer and year-round
remain very troubling… The bees should be surviving better,
but the numbers say otherwise.”
The fact that high summer losses have been noted is also
important, as mite infestations are more likely to occur in the
winter. Bayer, Syngenta, and other chemical companies have
blamed mites as a reason for the bee deaths, but the latest
summer losses weaken their argument, according to Pettis.
Instead, pesticide exposure is a likely factor.
Pesticide-Coated Seeds May Be Killing Bees
The majority of soybean, corn, canola, and sunflower seeds
planted in the US are coated with neonicotinoid pesticides
(neonics). The chemicals, which are produced by Bayer and
Syngenta, travel systemically through the plants and kill
insects that munch on their roots and leaves.
Neonicotinoids are powerful neurotoxins and are quite
effective at killing the pests… but they’re also being blamed
for decimating populations on non-target pests, namely
pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
This occurs because the pesticides are taken up through the
plant's vascular system as it grows, and, as a result, the
chemical is expressed in the pollen and nectar of the plant.
Despite accumulating evidence that neonics are implicated in
widespread bee deaths across the US, Monsanto, DuPont, and Dow,
which sell the treated seeds, have no intention of stopping.
In 2013, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released a
report that ruled neonicotinoid insecticides are essentially
“unacceptable” for many crops,6
and in the US, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA)
announced that they were restricting the use of 18 pesticide
products containing dinotefuran, a type of neonicotinoid.
Neonicotinoids have been increasingly blamed for bee deaths
(and were implicated in the 2013 mass
bee die-off of 25,000 bumblebees along with
millions of bee deaths in Canada), prompting the European
Union (EU) to ban them for two years, beginning December 1,
2013, to study their involvement with large bee kills.
Meanwhile, an independent review by 29 scientists with the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (which looked
at 800 studies) put another nail in the coffin for
neonicotinoids. The study found neonicotinoids are gravely
harming bees and other pollinators (like butterflies). The
research also showed serious harm to birds, earthworms, snails,
and other invertebrates.7
One of the researchers, Jean-Marc Bonmatin with the National
Centre for Scientific Research, said:8
"The evidence is very clear. We are witnessing a
threat to the productivity of our natural and farmed
environment equivalent to that posed by organophosphates or
DDT… Far from protecting food production, the use of
neonicotinoid insecticides is threatening the very
infrastructure which enables it."
Monoculture and the Destruction of Grasslands Lead to Bee Death
It’s imperative to understand that agriculture is a complete
“system” based on inter-related factors, and in order to
maintain ecological balance and health, you must understand how
that system works as a whole. Any time you change one part of
that system, you change the interaction of all the other
components, because they work together. It is simply
impossible to change just one minor aspect without
altering the entire system, and this is in part why monoculture
is so destructive.
Monoculture is the growing of just one type of crop
on a massive scale – a growing method that is contrary to
nature. NPR commentator and science writer Craig Childs decided
to replicate a photo project by David Liittschwager, a portrait
photographer who spent years traveling the world dropping
one-cubic-foot metal frames into gardens, streams, parks,
forests, and oceans, photographing anything and everything that
entered the frame.
Around the world, his camera captured thousands of plants,
animals, and insects within the cubes, with entirely different
“worlds” of plants and animals living as little as a few feet
away from each other. But whereas Littschwager’s camera captured
several dozens of insects wherever he set up his frames, Childs
found nothing stirring among the genetically modified
(GM) corn stalks on one 600-acre farm in Iowa. As reported by
NPR:9
“It felt like another planet entirely,” Childs
said. “I listened and heard nothing, no birds, no clicks
from insects. There were no bees. The air, the ground,
seemed vacant. Yet, 100 years ago, these same fields, these
prairies, were home to 300 species of plants, 60 mammals,
300 birds, hundreds and hundreds of insects… This soil was
the richest, the loamiest in the state. And now, in these
patches, there is almost literally nothing but one kind of
living thing. We’ve erased everything else.
…There's something strange about a farm that
intentionally creates a biological desert to produce food
for one species: us. It's efficient, yes. But it's so
efficient that the ants are missing, the bees are missing,
and even the birds stay away. Something's not right here.
Our cornfields are too quiet.”
Midwest Bees ‘Get It from All Sides’
GM corn is the epitome of monoculture, and the vast majority
of GM corn is treated with neonicotinoids like clothianidin or
thiamethoxam. As reported by Pesticide Action Network North
America (PANNA), honeybees in the Midwest “get it from all
sides” when the vast expanses of GM corn are planted, as they:10
- “Fly through clothianidin-contaminated planter dust
- Gather clothianidin-laced corn pollen, which will
then be fed to emerging larva
- Gather water from acutely toxic, pesticide-laced
guttation droplets
- Gather pollen and nectar from nearby fields where
forage sources such as dandelions have taken up these
persistent chemicals from soil that’s been contaminated year
on year since clothianidin’s widespread introduction into
corn cultivation in 2003”
And the neonicotinoids are not the only chemicals
the bees have to worry about. According to PANNA:11
“Over the last 15 years, US corn cultivation has gone
from a crop requiring little-to-no insecticides and
negligible amounts of fungicides, to a crop where the
average acre is grown from seeds treated or genetically
engineered to express three different insecticides (as well
as a fungicide or two) before being sprayed prophylactically
with Roundup (an herbicide) and a new class of fungicides
that farmers didn’t know they 'needed' before the
mid-2000s.”
Measures that target single classes of pesticides, though a
move in the right direction, may actually be falling short. In
2013, researchers analyzed pollen from bee hives in seven major
crops and found 35 different pesticides along with
high fungicide loads.12
Each sample contained, on average, nine different pesticides and
fungicides, although one contained 21 different chemicals.
Furthermore, when the pollen was fed to healthy bees, they had a
significant decline in the ability to resist infection with the
Nosema ceranae parasite, which has been implicated in
CCD.
Pollinators Are Losing Their Natural Foraging Areas
In addition to exposure to agricultural chemicals, mass
conversions of grasslands to corn and soy in the Midwest have
dramatically reduced bees’ natural foraging areas. This is
affecting not only bees but also other pollinators like the
Monarch butterfly. Milkweeds are critical to the Monarch’s
survival because they’re the only food source for Monarch
larvae.
Milkweeds that used to abundantly line the Monarch’s flight
path have been largely eradicated by modern agriculture. Not
only are chemicals, including the herbicide Roundup, killing the
milkweeds, but prairies are being replaced by cornfields, and
roadsides are being mowed where milkweeds previously grew wild.
Many equate modern farming techniques with “progress,” when
in fact many of our technological “advancements” are now
threatening to destroy us right along with the entire planet.
There are major differences between
industrial farming and regenerative agriculture, and the
foods produced by the former cannot be equated to the foods
produced by the latter. GM plants and industrial farming
contributes to every form of environmental devastation, while
organic farming methods support, restore, and rejuvenate the
ecosystem.
What Can Help to Save the Bees?
By plowing up grasslands to grow monocrops, we are
contributing to environmental destruction and world hunger. One
important factor that some experts believe is KEY for reversing
environmental devastation is to return much of our land to
grasslands and build a network of herbivore economics. There is
no better way to improve the conditions for animals, protect
pollinators, bring more revenue to farmers, and improve our
health by purchasing nutritious foods from properly pastured
animals.
By mimicking the natural behavior of migratory herds of wild
grazing animals—meaning allowing livestock to graze freely,
and moving the herd around in specific patterns—farmers can
support nature's efforts to regenerate and thrive, while
providing natural, chemical-free foraging area for pollinators
and other beneficial insects.
The good news is that we don't need to invent yet another
chemical or a new piece of farm equipment to solve this problem.
We simply need to revert to a system that works
with nature rather than against it. And this involves
grazing cattle. My previous article discussing the work of
ecologist
Allan Savory goes into this process in greater detail.
Further, to avoid harming bees and other helpful pollinators
that visit your garden, swap out toxic pesticide and lawn
chemicals for organic weed and pest control alternatives. Even
some organic formulations can be harmful to beneficial insects,
so be sure to vet your products carefully. Better yet, get rid
of your lawn altogether and plant an edible
organic garden. Both flower and vegetable gardens provide
good honeybee habitats. It's also recommended to keep a small
basin of fresh water in your garden or backyard, as bees
actually do get thirsty.
In order to support the Monarch butterflies, consider
planting a locally appropriate species of milkweed in your
garden, on your farm, or wherever you manage habitat. You can
use the
Milkweed Seed Finder to locate seeds in your area. Whatever
you choose to grow, please avoid purchasing
pesticide-treated plants.
Cut flower growers are among the heaviest users of toxic
agricultural chemicals, including pesticides, so if you must buy
cut flowers, make sure you select only organically grown and/or
fair trade bouquets.
Ideally, you'll want to grow your own pollinator-friendly
plants from organic, untreated seed, but if you opt to purchase
starter plants, make sure to ask whether or not they've been
pre-treated with pesticides. Keep in mind that you also help
protect the welfare of all pollinators every time you
shop organic and grass-fed, as you are actually “voting” for
less pesticides and herbicides with every organic and pastured
food and consumer product you buy.
You can take bee preservation a step further by trying your
hand at amateur beekeeping. Maintaining a hive in your garden
requires only about an hour of your time each week, benefits
your local ecosystem—and you get to enjoy your own homegrown
honey!
Copyright 1997- 2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/26/honeybee-losses.aspx
|