[Pollinator] Bee industry hosts EPA for tour of almond pollination sites
Kimberley Fellows
kimberley.fellows at gmail.com
Sun Apr 7 12:43:25 PDT 2013
*For immediate release: *April 4, 2013****
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*Contact:*****
Brett Adee, National Pollinator Defense Fund ****
badee at ahpanet.com, cell: (661) 303-5031****
or****
Randy Verhoek, National Pollinator Defense Fund****
r.verhoek at harvesthoneyinc.com, cell: 713-724-5993 ****
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*Bee Industry Hosts US EPA for Tour of Almond Pollination Sites*
*Dead Bees and Empty Hives Show the Extent of the Losses*
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Oakdale, CA — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant
Administrator, Jim Jones spent a day with beekeepers and almond growers to
learn more about this year’s massive colony losses, and beekeepers’
concerns about the role of pesticides in the decline. The National
Pollinator Defense Fund (NPDF) Board provided Jones with a view of the
disaster from inside the hive. It was not a pretty picture. Dead hives
littered the landscape at one bee yard, and even the hives with bees in
them were not at full strength.****
“I started out last spring in the Midwest with 3,150 healthy bee colonies;
of which 992 still survive, and most of those are very weak. More than
2,150 of my valuable bee colonies are now just gone,” said Jeff Anderson,
third generation beekeeper, and owner of California-Minnesota Honey Farms
where the tour began.****
Escalating colony losses are making replacement difficult. In the
meantime, without bees, they are unable to fulfill pollination contracts or
make honey. Beekeepers are not alone—growers of almonds, cherries, apples,
pears, berries, melons, and other fruits, vegetables, and field crops stand
to lose as well, since their yields will be lower without good
pollination. Almond growers are paying a premium price this year for
bees. The supply isn’t enough to ensure good pollination and fruit set. “The
industry’s ability to pollinate almonds this year is severely compromised
because of colony failures. I expect that next year may be worse,” said
Bret Adee, NPDF President, and owner of Adee Honey Farms. “Many beekeepers
will just not be able to recover from these losses.”****
This is EPA’s second visit this year to the almond orchards. In early
March, Anita Pease, Associate Director of Environmental Fate and Effects
Division with the Office of Pesticide Programs, spent the day touring
beekeeping operations with NPDF board members Bret Adee, Jeff Anderson,
Darren Cox, and Zac Browning. They were joined by U.S. Department of
Agriculture bee researchers Jeff Pettis and Dennis Van Englesdorp;
American Honey Producers President, Randy Verhoek, and American Beekeeping
Federation President, George Hansen, and Board member, Gene Brandi.****
The National Honey Bee Advisory Board (NHBAB) and the Almond Board helped
the NPDF coordinate Jim Jones’ visit. Jones is head of the Office of
Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) at U.S. EPA in Washington,
D.C., one of the 12 main offices under the head of the EPA. OCSPP is the
part of EPA that oversees the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) that is
responsible for registering pesticides, and ensuring that “no unreasonable
adverse effects” will result from pesticide use. ****
In spite of OPP’s mandate, pesticides continue to kill bees. Acute kills
from illegal sprays on blooming crops or weeds are part of the problem. Jeremy
Anderson, fourth-generation beekeeper, noted “Many insecticide labels
disallow spraying blooming crops; but if it happens, penalties for
violating the rules are few and far between. Just an acute exposure is
enough to kill honey bees.”****
After opening many of the hives and viewing sick honey bees, Jones was able
to discern the difference between healthy honey bees, and a sick hive. He
also heard from beekeepers there is a serious need for better enforcement
of label restrictions. “There are no consequences for applying pesticides
near beehives—state lead agencies responsible for enforcement usually do
not investigate honey bee kills,” Anderson said. ****
“We’re pleased to see Jim Jones visit the almond orchards, growers, and
beekeepers. He understands the need for sustainable pollinators. The EPA
understands that the bee industry is in extreme critical condition at a
tipping point. He is evaluating the way EPA enforces pesticide laws.
Pollinators and beekeepers can’t continue to be on the receiving end of the
losses, or the U.S. won’t have a beekeeping industry,” said Darren Cox, a
fourth-generation beekeeper from Utah who brings bees to California for
almond pollination. Jim Jones stated he wants to bring all of the
stakeholders together to work on this issue.****
Beekeepers are also concerned about pesticide exposures that don’t kill the
bees outright, but may affect their ability to thrive. The bee industry is
concerned several classes of insecticides, including systemic
neonicotinoids and pyrethroids, and some fungicides and growth regulators
may impair the immune system, causing queen or brood failure, compromising
homing abilities of forager bees, and/or disrupting communications within
the hive, all of which contribute to colony loss. We strongly urge the EPA
to re-evaluate these compounds long term using tier testing protocols that
can give us the answers we need to mitigate losses.****
Some pesticides are long-lived and persistent in the environment. The
pyrethroid pesticides are found in the wax of most hives that have spent
time in agricultural areas. Neonicotinoids are more frequently found in the
nectar and pollen stores in the hive. A recent study of more than 800
hives from Pennsylvania State University found an average of six different
pesticides, and as many as 39 in a single hive. In the paper, the authors
noted: “We concluded that the 98 pesticides and metabolites detected in
mixtures up to 214 ppm in bee pollen alone represented a remarkably high
level for toxicants in the food of brood and adults. While exposure to
many of these neurotoxicants elicits acute and sublethal reductions in
honey bee fitness, the effects of these materials in combinations, and
their direct involvement in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) remain to be
determined.”****
The National Pollinator Defense Fund’s mission is to defend managed and
native pollinators vital to a sustainable and affordable food supply from
the adverse impacts of pesticides. For more information contact us at
www.pollinatordefense.org.****
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Beekeepers inspect a barn full of dead-outs in Oakdale, CA. (photo Kyle
Anderson)****
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Representatives of bee industry, almond industry, and EPA exam hives in the
California almond fields. (photo Kyle Anderson)****
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Over 800,000 acres of almonds are grown in California. (photo Kyle
Anderson)****
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Hives that weren’t completely dead were often weak like this one. (photo
Kyle Anderson)****
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****
Almonds need pollination to set the crop. (photo Kyle Anderson)****
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An applicator sprays fungicide on blooming almonds, with beehives right in
the line of the spray. (photo Kyle Anderson) ****
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Michele Colopy****
Program Director****
National Pollinator Defense Fund****
P.O. Box 193****
Danbury, Texas 77534****
832-727-9492****
progdirector at pollinatordefense.org****
www.pollinatordefense.org****
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****
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*The National Pollinator Defense Fund’s mission is to defend managed and
native pollinators vital to a sustainable and affordable food supply from
the adverse impacts of pesticides.*
** **
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