Re: No Bees, No Crops -- The Mysterious Disappearance of the Honey Bees


"Lawrence Akutagawa" <lakuNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:JtV9k.3099$np7.1129@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"mg" <mgkelson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:g492n2$it$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Food prices have gone up 83 percent in three years, according to the World Bank

Honey Bee Crisis Could Push Food Prices Even Higher

STEPHANIE S. GARLOW
Huffington Post,June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON - Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday.

"No bees, no crops," North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent.

About three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.

In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. This phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists do not know how many bees have died; beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year. It was 31 percent for 2007, said Edward B. Knipling, administrator of the Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service.

/snip - read the thread or the article in the cited link/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/26/honey-bee-crisis-could-pu_n_109505.html
I've been following this issue with interest. To my knowledge, all the problems seem to be with commercial bees - that is, bees transported from one place to another by commercial beekeepers. I don't think I've heard of the hobbyist beekeeper having similar problems. Is anyone here aware of the same problem with the hobbyist beekeeper?


I've not paid much attention as to the why, but I do know that we've seen a significant decrease in the wild bee population around here. But we've had so many "killer bee" attacks over the years that most people will destroy any wild be swarms on sight.


.

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