Thoughts on article.....

[BjornBee]

Last year, I wrote a small article about how everything has consequences. Some good, some bad.
I mentioned how farmers are being bombarded with the claims that we will not have enough honey bees every year. That the world food crops are in danger. I wrote about my own thoughts on the matter. Of course, the backlash from the poster children of CCD all claimed that I was not being a team player and that we all needed to be on the same cart being dragged down the street.

My original article can be found here, scan down to "Everything has Consequences".

http://www.bjornapiaries.net/beekeeperramblings.html


But what I really want to hear about, are people's thoughts on another article published just a couple days ago.
It mentions that in the near future, we will not have enough bees for pollination. That crops are already not being fully pollinated.

So I ask you, since I have not heard of any crops not being pollinated, even though the claims that it will happen every year. And except for almonds, where I am not sure if mass pollination from native bees or commercial mason bee stock, would even be realistic for the circumstances, what other crops are not being pollinated?

It seems having this discussion with big commercial guys is lost since they want every beekeeper in step with the message. That being "We need help, the world will starve, and we will not have bees this year to do the job". In fact one guy even went so far to claim that "anyone that thinks he does have have CCD  is too ignorant to know it!"

Here is the article I want you to see. I realize the positives. I keep and promote mason bees myself.  But I also know the stories and recommendations this person, who happens to be in my neck of the woods, has on the local farming situation, where I see no shortage of pollination in the apple fields.

http://lfg.live.mediaspanonline.com/assets/5255800/A32LFWE-101610_1.pdf

Sorry for the ads...I could not get a download without them. No intentions are made.

[Damonh]

BjornBee,
I also live in Pennsylvania but in the northwest corner up buy lake Erie. The farmers here grow grapes mainly. However, there are also many apple, peach and cherry farmers. I have lived here for 55 years and remember as a child that the majority of the tree fruit farmers also kept bees for their trees. This is not so today. I am not sure why the trend has changed. I feel it a good thing that Mr. Biddinger has procured these funds for Penn State University and hopefully something good will come out of his study. I feel he might find that there are large numbers of feral honeybees finding there way to pollinate the apple trees along with bumble bees and mason bees. I have noticed a huge increase in the last few years of swarms and requests for trap outs of the honeybees in my area. I am not sure why this is so. Many of the larger beekeepers in our area are still losing high percentage of hives over winter, but the feral population seems to be increasing. Sorry about the ramble. Back to the quote "We need help, the world will starve, and we will not have bees this year to do the job", that may be true but it is a very good statement for additional funding for the university research groups. The next quote: That being, In fact one guy even went so far to claim that "anyone that thinks he does have CCD is too ignorant to know it!" Seems that CCD has become a buzzword for everything that goes wrong with a colony of honeybees. The decline of honeybees is a very complex problem and I think you must look at the big picture. It is a large number of different issues that come into play and again it is all being labeled CCD.
Just my 2 cents

[HomeBru]

It's refreshing to see that the money is going to study NATIVE pollinators. It will be interesting to see how many different native species of pollinating species there are in that region. Hopefully, it will calm some of the "sky is falling" rhetoric surrounding CCD.

J

[buzzbee]

Perhaps this is a covert effort to drive honey beekeepers out of business.Why is it that when an Industry such as nuts or fruits need help,they ask Uncle Sam to foot the bill on these studies. Why do the industries not grant the money directly to the universities?They do in some cases,but most grants come from us,the taxpayer.
  I think as long as there is "CCD" and grant money available to find the cause,it may be better to keep looking without ever having definitive proof. otherwise once the cure is found,the funding dries up. I really think some of these calamaties are self perpetuating and the causes and cures are not released near as fast as they could otherwise be.

[indypartridge]

For me, authoritative statements such as "We already know the supply of honeybees in the U.S. will not be able to meet the demand for pollination services in the near future," tend to set off alarms. I'm not sticking my head in the sand and saying there isn't a problem, but I'm not convinced it's as severe as some statements in the media have made it to be.  Too often, comments are made about the number of bees needed for almond pollination in California, and then it's immediately extrapolated to shortages of bees across the country. I'm not seeing it.

Lastly, is it possible some "shortages" of bees are really "refusals"? I know a number of commerical beeks who have stopped pollinating vine crops because it has too often resulted in dead and weakened colonies.

[tecumseh]

well just casually it does appear some 'seed' crop production is showing signs of poor pollination.  I suspect this will be the next real boon for the bee pollination folks.  as someone suggest it also looks like anyone interested in seed pollination had better pencil in considerable casualty loss into the $ rentals.

shortage... the economist in me would tell you there is no such thing as shortage only an inability (happens more than some folks seem to recognize) of supply and demand to come together.  at the current time all you need to do is look at the trend line of 'beehives in commercial hands' with acres of almonds planted in California to see where folks might get the idea that pollinators (or more specifically the honeybee) will soon be in short supply.

[BjornBee]

Comments about this playing out long term are probably correct. The structure for this is already being spread about. Here is a recent story about this....

http://www.apinews.com/en/component/k2/item/12179

[tecumseh]

I would guess it will not make your day but I have added your highlighted web site to my bookmarks.  There seems to me to be a lot of interesting 'rants' to consider there.

I like to look at consequence in environmental terms... those things near being termed 'approximate' and those things a bit further down the road being termed 'ultimate'.  the insecticide approach to responding to varroa makes for a very excellent rhetorical platform for discussing the simple difference time makes. 

as an example you add this or that insecticide and it kill the mites on your bees.. this is the approximate results of your action.   in a bit longer term the mites obtain resistance and grow stronger and you now have insecticide trapped within the hive that makes your bees weaker... this is the ultimate results of the same action. 

[BjornBee]

For me, authoritative statements such as "We already know the supply of honeybees in the U.S. will not be able to meet the demand for pollination services in the near future," tend to set off alarms. I'm not sticking my head in the sand and saying there isn't a problem, but I'm not convinced it's as severe as some statements in the media have made it to be.  Too often, comments are made about the number of bees needed for almond pollination in California, and then it's immediately extrapolated to shortages of bees across the country. I'm not seeing it.

Lastly, is it possible some "shortages" of bees are really "refusals"? I know a number of commerical beeks who have stopped pollinating vine crops because it has too often resulted in dead and weakened colonies.

I think you touch upon several areas of the many at play.

I cringe at the whole "We are all going to die in four years" crap being played out year after year. And the basis of my original article, included the fact that researchers (not the one in the second article) were out telling farmers that they should look elsewhere for their pollination, while being on the CCD research team. Personally. I could care less about the commercial guys and the "one crop farmer". Most of my operation is centered around full market operations where they need honey bees since masons and other natives do not last throughout the entire summer. It's not that I don't really care, but I'm tired of being beat up for what I believe. I think that commercial guys will suffer long term with the increased research in self-pollinating crops, farmers seeking alternative pollinators, etc.

If you read the first article closely, I mentioned weak and over priced pollination units. This happened three years ago. Just in time for some to capitalize on the image being presented. What farmers were seeing was three frame pollination units, price doubling at the same time for these weak units, while being told by both the beekeeper and extension/research folks, that bees were dying and we will not have enough bees. And of course that has set off a chain of situations.

I'm through trying to point out the obvious. I hope more people get into beekeeping, filling the needs for the family farm. Let the big guys have the mega operations and let the migratory guys reap what they sow. I personally think the migratory bee business in this country is a detriment to bees across the country. I have said that prior to CDD. Imagine the day if they can perfect the self-pollinating almond, and other crops could be handled regionally.

I also agree that some migratory beekeepers are refusing some crops, creating a perceived shortage. Farmers spray when they say they don't, they use stockpiles of questionable leftover "stuff" out behind the barn, they mix chemicals so they can spray in one pass, and they expect beekeepers to do the pollination for near nothing.

Interesting comments about the farms up around Erie. I had just written something last month in regards to farmers being smarter than beekeepers. It is on the "beekeeper Ramblings" page of my website. I think if more farmer became responsible for their own bees, you would see a vast improvement in chemical use. And we might even gain a huge leg of support from the farming community.