[Pollinator] CNN covers the House Agricultural Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C. today

[Jennifer Tsang]

http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/29/news/honeybees

 



The mysterious deaths of the honeybees


Honeybee colony collapse drives price of honey higher and threatens fruit
and vegetable production.


By CNN's Amy Sahba

March 29 2007: 5:16 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Beekeepers throughout the United States have been losing
between 50 and 90 percent of their honeybees over the past six months,
perplexing scientists, driving honey prices higher and threatening fruit and
vegetable production.

At a House Agricultural Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C. today,
members of various organizations came together to share their concerns about
what they have been calling the "Colony Collapse Disorder," or CCD.

Beginning in October 2006, beekeepers from 24 states reported that hundreds
of thousands of their bees were dying and their colonies were being
decimated.

In December 2006 beekeepers associations, scientists and officials formed
the CCD working group, in hopes to identify the cause and solve the problem
of CCD.

Most of the beekeepers who have recently reported heavy losses associated
with CCD are large commercial migratory beekeepers, some of who are losing
50 to 90 percent of their colonies.

Moreover, surviving colonies are often so weak that they are not viable
pollinating or honey producing units. Losses have been reported in migratory
operations in California, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas, but in February some
larger non-migratory beekeepers, particularly from the mid-Atlantic region
and the Pacific Northeast reported significant losses of more than 50
percent.

Testifying in front of the committee this morning, Caird E. Rexroad, from
the Agricultural Research Service, said that although they have a variety of
theories as to what might be causing CCD, they believe stress on the bees
might be the major motive.

"We believe that some form of stress may be suppressing immune systems of
bees, ultimately contributing to CCD." The main four types of stresses that
Rexroad identified were migratory stresses, mites, pathogens and pesticides.

According to the National Agricultural Statistic Service, honey production
declined by 11 percent in 2006, and honey prices per pound increased 14
percent, from 91.8 cents in 2005 to 104.2 cents in 2006. Daren Jantzy, with
the National Agricultural Statistics Service, told CNN that these statistics
are based on numbers collected mostly before the true impact of CCD was
noted. Its impact will be more noticeable when the 2007 statistics are
collected.

And the impact goes far beyond direct bee products, like honey and wax.
Three quarters of the worlds 250,000 flowering plants - including many
fruits and vegetables - require pollination to reproduce.

Dr. May R. Berenbaum, head of the Department of Entomology at the University
of Illinois believes the economic impact of the decline in bees could be
disastrous.

"Though economists differ in calculating the exact dollar value of honeybee
pollination, virtually all estimates range in the billions of dollars," she
told representatives at the House hearing.

But this is not a new problem. Over the past two decades concern has risen
around the world about the decline of pollinators of all descriptions.
During this period in the United States, the honeybee, the world's premier
pollinator, experienced a dramatic 40 percent decline, from nearly six
million to less than two and a half million.

In 2005, for the first time in 85 years, the United States was forced to
import honeybees in order to meet its pollination demands. Berenbaum says
that "if honeybees numbers continued to decline at the rates documented from
1989 to 1996, managed honeybees in the United States will cease to exist in
the United States by 2035."


 





 


 

 


 


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http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/29/news/honeybees

 

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