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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?ex=1173243600&en=19e542fb52509696&ei=5070&emc=eta1">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?ex=1173243600&en=19e542fb52509696&ei=5070&emc=eta1</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:7.5pt'><font size=6 color=black
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:22.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'>Honeybees
Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</NYT_HEADLINE>
<form>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=gray face=Arial><span style='font-size:
9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:gray'>By <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/alexei_barrionuevo/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
title="More Articles by Alexei Barrionuevo">ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=gray face=Arial><span style='font-size:
9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:gray'></NYT_BYLINE>Published: February 27, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><!--NYT_INLINE_IMAGE_POSITION1 --><NYT_TEXT>VISALIA</span></font></st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Calif.</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>, Feb. 23 — David Bradshaw has
endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock
of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100
million bees missing.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?ei=5070&en=19e542fb52509696&ex=1173243600&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all#secondParagraph#secondParagraph"><font
color="#004276"><span style='color:#004276;display:none;text-decoration:none'>Skip
to next paragraph</span></font></a> <a name=secondParagraph></a>In 24 states
throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their
bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not
only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> almonds, one
of the nation’s most profitable. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr.
Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box
after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the
critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and
vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before,
but this is the first national affliction. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are
flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their
colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying
in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually
falling victim to the cold.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>As researchers scramble to find answers to the
syndrome they have decided to call “colony collapse disorder,”
growers are becoming openly nervous about the capability of the commercial bee
industry to meet the growing demand for bees to pollinate dozens of crops, from
almonds to avocados to kiwis.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Along with recent stresses on the bees themselves, as
well as on an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear this
disorder may force a breaking point for even large beekeepers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>A <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/cornell_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about Cornell University."><font color="#004276"><span
style='color:#004276'>Cornell University</span></font></a> study has estimated
that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and
crops in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our
diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac
Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on
the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> reporting losses of more than 70
percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be
normal.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Beekeepers are the nomads of the agriculture world,
working in obscurity in their white protective suits and frequently trekking
around the country with their insects packed into 18-wheelers, looking for
pollination work. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Once the domain of hobbyists with a handful of
backyard hives, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated.
Over the last two decades, the number of beehives, now estimated by the
Agriculture Department to be 2.4 million, has dropped by a quarter and the
number of beekeepers by half. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The
costs to maintain hives, also known as colonies, are rising along with the
strain on bees of being bred to pollinate rather than just make honey. And
beekeepers are losing out to suburban sprawl in their quest for spots where
bees can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination
season.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>“There are less beekeepers, less bees, yet more
crops to pollinate,” Mr. Browning said. “While this sounds sweet
for the bee business, with so much added loss and expense due to disease, pests
and higher equipment costs, profitability is actually falling.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Some 15 worried beekeepers convened in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State> this month to
brainstorm with researchers how to cope with the extensive bee losses.
Investigators are exploring a range of theories, including viruses, a fungus
and poor bee nutrition. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>They are also studying a group of pesticides that
were banned in some European countries to see if they are somehow affecting
bees’ innate ability to find their way back home. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>It could just be that the bees are stressed out. Bees
are being raised to survive a shorter offseason, to be ready to pollinate once
the almond bloom begins in February. That has most likely lowered their
immunity to viruses. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the
insecticides used to try to kill mites are harming the ability of queen bees to
spawn as many worker bees. The queens are living half as long as they did just
a few years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Researchers are also concerned that the willingness
of beekeepers to truck their colonies from coast to coast could be adding to
bees’ stress, helping to spread viruses and mites and otherwise
accelerating whatever is afflicting them. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Dennis van Engelsdorp, a bee specialist with the
state of Pennsylvania who is part of the team studying the bee colony
collapses, said the “strong immune suppression” investigators have
observed “could be the <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/aids/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="Recent and archival health news about AIDS/HIV."><font color="#004276"><span
style='color:#004276'>AIDS</span></font></a> of the bee industry,” making
bees more susceptible to other diseases that eventually kill them off.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Growers have tried before to do without bees. In past
decades, they have used everything from giant blowers to helicopters to mortar
shells to try to spread pollen across the plants. More recently researchers
have been trying to develop “self-compatible” almond trees that
will require fewer bees. One company is even trying to commercialize the blue
orchard bee, which is virtually stingless and works at colder temperatures than
the honeybee.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Beekeepers have endured two major mite infestations
since the 1980s, which felled many hobbyist beekeepers, and three cases of
unexplained disappearing disorders as far back as 1894. But those episodes were
confined to small areas, Mr. van Engelsdorp said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Today the industry is in a weaker position to deal
with new stresses. A flood of imported honey from <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has depressed honey prices and put more pressure on beekeepers to take to the
road in search of pollination contracts. Beekeepers are trucking tens of
billions of bees around the country every year. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>California</span></font></st1:place></st1:State><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>’s
almond crop, by far the biggest in the world, now draws more than half of the
country’s bee colonies in February. The crop has been both a boon to
commercial beekeeping and a burden, as pressure mounts for the industry to fill
growing demand. Now spread over 580,000 acres stretched across 300 miles of
California’s Central Valley, the crop is expected to grow to 680,000
acres by 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Beekeepers now earn many times more renting their
bees out to pollinate crops than in producing honey. Two years ago a lack of
bees for the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
almond crop caused bee rental prices to jump, drawing beekeepers from the East
Coast. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>This year the price for a bee colony is about $135,
up from $55 in 2004, said Joe Traynor, a bee broker in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Bakersfield</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Calif.</st1:State></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>A typical bee colony ranges from 15,000 to 30,000
bees. But beekeepers’ costs are also on the rise. In the past decade,
fuel, equipment and even bee boxes have doubled and tripled in price. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>The cost to control mites has also risen, along with
the price of queen bees, which cost about $15 each, up from $10 three years
ago. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>To give bees energy while they are pollinating,
beekeepers now feed them protein supplements and a liquid mix of sucrose and
corn syrup carried in tanker-sized trucks costing $12,000 per load. Over all,
Mr. Bradshaw figures, in recent years he has spent $145 a hive annually to keep
his bees alive, for a profit of about $11 a hive, not including labor expenses.
The last three years his net income has averaged $30,000 a year from his 4,200
bee colonies, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>“A couple of farmers have asked me, ‘Why
are you doing this?’ ” Mr. Bradshaw said. “I ask myself the
same thing. But it is a job I like. It is a lifestyle. I work with my dad every
day. And now my son is starting to work with us.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Almonds fetch the highest prices for bees, but if
there aren’t enough bees to go around, some growers may be forced to seek
alternatives to bees or change their variety of trees.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>“It would be nice to know that we have a
dependable source of honey bees,” said Martin Hein, an almond grower
based in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Visalia</st1:place></st1:City>.
“But at this point I don’t know that we have that for the amount of
acres we have got.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>To cope with the losses, beekeepers have been
scouring elsewhere for bees to fulfill their contracts with growers. Lance
Sundberg, a beekeeper from <st1:City w:st="on">Columbus</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Mont.</st1:State>, said he spent $150,000 in the last two weeks
buying 1,000 packages of bees — amounting to 14 million bees — from
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>He is hoping the Aussie bees will help offset the
loss of one-third of the 7,600 hives he manages in six states. “The fear
is that when we mix the bees the die-offs will continue to occur,” Mr.
Sundberg said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Migratory beekeeping is a lonely life that many
compare to truck driving. Mr. Sundberg spends more than half the year driving
20 truckloads of bees around the country. In Terra Bella, an hour south of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Visalia</st1:place></st1:City>, Jack Brumley
grimaced from inside his equipment shed as he watched Rosa Patiņo use a flat
tool to scrape dried honey from dozens of beehive frames that once held bees.
Some 2,000 empty boxes — which once held one-third of his total hives
— were stacked to the roof.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Beekeepers must often plead with landowners to allow
bees to be placed on their land to forage for nectar. One large citrus grower
has pushed for <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
to institute a “no-fly zone” for bees of at least two miles to
prevent them from pollinating a seedless form of Mandarin orange.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>But the quality of forage might make a difference.
Last week Mr. Bradshaw used a forklift to remove some of his bee colonies from
a spot across a riverbed from orange groves. Only three of the 64 colonies
there have died or disappeared.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>“It will probably take me two to three more
years to get back up,” he said. “Unless I spend gobs of money I
don’t have.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>Jennifer Tsang<br>
<a href="http://coevolution.org">Coevolution Institute</a><br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">423 Washington St.</st1:address></st1:Street>
5th Fl.<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94111-2339</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><br>
T: 415.362.1137</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>F: 415.362.3070</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.nappc.org">www.nappc.org</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.pollinator.org">www.pollinator.org</a></span></font><font
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