Bee Colony Loss - Part Three

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Bee colony collapse led to the formation of Project Apis m back in 2006. Recent losses in US commercial honeybees led to the question of, “what have we learned about why these bees are dying”? Project Apis m executive director Danielle Downey says it ultimately boils down to what she calls the 4 P’s.

Downey… “ That's parasites: we know that there's a mite that is killing bees, and it's been a problem now and a primary management problem for beekeepers for decades. That mite feeds on the blood of bees and acts like a dirty needle spreading viruses, and those viruses are becoming increasingly detrimental.”

So that’s the first two P’s: parasites and pathogens. The other two are pesticides and poor nutrition.

Downey… “ Pesticides are always a risk for bees. If they move from crop to crop, they're getting exposed to chemicals and cocktails that are hard to predict the impact. It may not kill bees right away, but it could accumulate and have sub lethal effects that all add up to a bad outcome. And poor nutrition: when we say poor nutrition, we mean there's not enough flowers on the landscape to support healthy bees.”

Project Apis m recently conducted a study of US commercial beekeepers that indicated that 41% of the nation’s bees were lost over this past winter.

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