<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><I><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">Forwarded by Hilda Diaz-Soltero</I></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"> AGRICULTURE: Bee deaths increase over last year -- survey <BR>
(Wednesday, May 7, 2008) <BR>
A new survey released yesterday showed a grim picture of bee <BR>
health, with 36.1 percent of the country's commercially managed <BR>
hives lost since last year. <BR>
The survey conducted last year by the Apiary Inspectors of America<BR>
found losses of about 32 percent. About 29 percent of the bee <BR>
deaths were due to colony collapse disorder, a disease that <BR>
mysteriously causes adult bees to abandon their hives. <BR>
Dennis van Engelsdorp, president of Apiary Inspectors of America, <BR>
said that as beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to <BR>
pollinate crops around the country, they are finding that insects <BR>
are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and<BR>
old enemies such as the parasitic varroa mite. <BR>
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced the <BR>
state would pour an additional $20,400 into research to look for <BR>
the causes of the disease (Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press, May<BR>
7). -- KJH </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Laurie Davies Adams<BR>
Executive Director<BR>
Pollinator Partnership<BR>
425 Washington Street, 5th Floor<BR>
San Francisco, CA 94111<BR>
415 362 1137 (p)<BR>
415 362 3070 (f)<BR>
LDA@pollinator.org<BR>
www.pollinator.org<BR>
www.nappc.org<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><B>National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. Create or attend an event in your state. Visit www.pollinator.org National Pollinator Week for complete details.</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><I>Join the Pollinator Partnership working to protect agriculture and ecosystems - visit www.pollinator.org</I></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"></FONT><BR><BR><BR>**************<BR>Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.<BR> (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)</HTML>