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<DIV>http://www.usda.gov/2009/04/0099.xml<BR><BR><BR>AGRICULTURE SECRETARY
VILSACK AND FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA HIGHLIGHT<BR>HEALTHY EATING <BR>White
House Garden to Receive USDA-Developed Honey Bees<BR><BR>
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined<BR>First
Lady Michelle Obama and a group of 5th graders on the South Lawn of<BR>the White
House today to talk about healthy eating, the availability of<BR>locally grown
fruits and vegetables, and bees.<BR><BR> "Growing your own fruits
and vegetables is one of the best ways to<BR>have healthy food," Vilsack
said. "Working in a garden is a great way to<BR>stay physically active and
maintain a healthy body. And, USDA is helping<BR>schools make sure that
every student in America has a healthy and nutritious<BR>lunch to eat at
school."<BR><BR> This July, USDA will be providing two types of
parasite-resistant<BR>honey bees developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) scientists to<BR>pollinate the plants in the new White House garden this
summer. Both of<BR>these bees are rapidly gaining in popularity with bee
keepers.<BR><BR> Honey bees enhance any garden, because they
increase the yields of<BR>plants that require pollination, they produce honey,
and they are one of<BR>Nature's most fascinating creatures to observe.
Unfortunately, parasitic<BR>mites cause serious health problems for most
varieties of honey bees, and<BR>many beekeepers must use pesticides to combat
the mites in the hives. But<BR>these USDA-developed bees are
mite-resistant, offering a more natural,<BR>organic alternative for the White
House garden.<BR><BR> Honey bees are crucial to American
agriculture, adding some $15<BR>billion in value in the nation's crops,
particularly specialty crops such as<BR>almonds and other nuts, berries, fruits,
and vegetables. In California, the<BR>almond crop alone uses 1.3 million
colonies of bees, approximately one half<BR>of all honey bees in the United
States, and this need is projected to grow<BR>to 1.5 million colonies by 2010.
<BR><BR> Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS),
USDA's<BR>principal intramural scientific research agency, developed the two
types of<BR>mite-resistant honey bees. One type is highly resistant to the
parasitic<BR>mite Varroa destructor, commonly known as the varroa mite. The bees
have a<BR>trait called "varroa-sensitive hygiene" which prompts the worker bees
to<BR>detect and remove infested bees from the nest, eliminating the need
for<BR>chemical help to control the mites.<BR><BR> The second type
of mite-resistant honey bees is based on a strain of<BR>honey bees from Russia
which are naturally resistant not only to varroa<BR>mites, but also to tracheal
mites, which infest the breathing tubes of the<BR>bees. These bees are
also highly tolerant of cold weather and require less<BR>artificial feeding than
typical honey bees. <BR><BR> The Russian bees were brought to
the United States by Thomas<BR>Rinderer, research leader at ARS' Honey Bee
Breeding, Genetics and<BR>Physiology Research Unit at Baton Rouge, La., where
studies have been under<BR>way on the bees since the mid-1990s. Rinderer
and other ARS scientists will<BR>collaborate with White House staff on
installation of the USDA bees in the<BR>White House garden.<BR><BR>
For the past eight years, breeder queens of the Russian-derived
and<BR>varroa-sensitive hygienic bees have been released to the
beekeeping<BR>industry, and both types of bees are gaining rapidly in
popularity. In<BR>2008, a breeders' group called the Russian Honeybee
Breeders Association,<BR>Inc., was formed to supply the Russian-based queens
throughout the U.S.<BR>beekeeping industry, and demand is outstripping
supply.<BR><BR> Both types of mite-resistant USDA bees are good
pollinators and easy<BR>to keep alive because of their hardiness, thus helping
ensure the success of<BR>the new White House garden.<BR><BR>USDA
News<BR>oc.news@usda.gov<BR>202 720-4623<BR></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive
Director<BR><B>Pollinator Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th
floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></B></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. <BR>Beecome
involved at <A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT><br/><font style="color:black;font:normal 10pt arial,san-serif;"> <hr style="margin-top:10px"/><A HREF=http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1220635155x1201407495/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B213771973%3B35379628%3Bw>New Deals on Dell Netbooks - Now starting at $299</A></font></DIV></BODY></HTML>