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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><img width=199
height=31 id="_x0000_i1027" src="cid:image001.gif@01CC30BD.65D2FCA0"
alt="The Wall Street Journal"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303635604576392021851510578.html?mod=ITP_opinion_0">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303635604576392021851510578.html?mod=ITP_opinion_0</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://online.wsj.com/public/search?article-doc-type=%7BCommentary+%28U.S.%29%7D&HEADER_TEXT=commentary+%28u.s.">OPINION</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>JUNE 22, 2011</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Blessed
Are the Beekeepers <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h2><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>Despite
the much-hyped 'colony collapse disorder,' there are plenty of bees and honey.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>By <a
href="http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=RANDAL+R.+RUCKER%0A%09%09%0A%09%09%09%3CBR%2F%3E%0A%09%09%09%0A%09AND+WALTER+N.+THURMAN&bylinesearch=true">RANDAL
R. RUCKER <br>
AND WALTER N. THURMAN</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The last
week of June is National Pollinator Week. Birds, bats and wild insects all
pollinate the flowering plants around us. The most celebrated pollinator is the
honeybee—and for good reason. Close to 2.5 million hives of bees are
managed by fewer than 2,000 commercial beekeepers, who take their bees on the
road each year to pollinate blueberries, almonds, cranberries and a cornucopia
of other fruits and vegetables. Without this cooperation of beekeeper, bee and
farmer, our national diet would be less nutritious and less tasty.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As even
casual observers now know, however, all is not perfect in the world of bees.
Colony collapse disorder, or CCD, is their most recent scourge. Over the past
four years, approximately 30% of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> honeybees alive in the fall
failed to survive to pollinate blossoms in the spring. While widespread
die-offs due to disease are as old as beekeeping, dating back to the 17th
century at least, this one appears worse than most. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><cite><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bloomberg</span></font></i></cite> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><img border=0 width=553 height=369 id="_x0000_i1030"
src="cid:image002.jpg@01CC30BD.65D2FCA0" alt=thurman><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>What is
truly remarkable, then, is that the pollinating services of bees, and the
fruits and vegetables of their labors, have remained steady in the face of CCD.
In light of this fact, we propose a celebration—to pay homage to the
resilience of honeybees and to the business acumen and perseverance of commercial
beekeepers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>To help
understand the implications of the latest wave of bee disease, and the
contributions of the beekeepers who lie awake at night worrying about them, we
offer the following observations based on our research:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>First,
the number of bees pollinating crops has been stable in recent years—CCD
notwithstanding. Before CCD, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
beekeepers lost on average 15% of their colonies each winter. What we know
about bee losses since then is that they increased immediately after the
discovery of CCD in 2006 and have remained at about 30% for the past four
years. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Yet the
increase in winter losses has not translated into fewer springtime bees.
Department of Agriculture data show that total bee numbers were higher in 2010
than in any year since 1999. Losses due to CCD have been more than offset by
beekeepers rebuilding bee populations, primarily by splitting and requeening
their colonies. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Second,
honey production by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
bees has been fairly stable. It was approximately the same in 2010 as it was in
the several years before CCD.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Finally,
there is no evidence that CCD has measurably affected the pollinated food
supply. If the effects of CCD were economically widespread and significant,
increased costs to beekeepers would dictate that farmers would have to pay more
to secure pollination services. But fees charged by beekeepers for pollinating
crops have shown at most modest signs of increase since the appearance of CCD.
While fees for pollinating almonds (a bellwether for the industry) have
increased in the past decade, the increases largely predate CCD, and fees have
not increased in the most recent years. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><a name=U5024761873915MD></a><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Commercial beekeepers routinely fight diseases and
parasites that threaten their tiny livestock. They apply miticides. They
monitor and manipulate their colonies' genetic stock. And they adjust to
changing circumstances, such as increased winter mortality, by increasing bee
populations in anticipation of winter losses. It is these efforts that explain
the relative stability of the nation's bee population and its products in the
face of CCD and other diseases and parasites.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Ongoing
research will lead to better ways to diagnose, treat and prevent bee disease,
which will be welcome to beekeepers and consumers alike. In the meantime, we
can be grateful that CCD has had no measurable, let alone drastic, effects on
the availability of fruits, vegetables, nuts and honey. Beekeepers have been as
busy as . . . well, as their iconic insect partners to bring this about.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mr.
Rucker is a professor of agricultural economics and economics at <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Montana</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
Mr. Thurman is a professor of agricultural and resource economics at <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
Both are fellows of the Property and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Environment</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Research</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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