[ExI] A Bee Mogul Confronts the Crisis in His Field

[BillK]

Beekeeping on an industrial scale is central to American
agriculture, and “colony collapse” has proved to be a severe test.

By STEPHANIE STROMFEB. 16, 2017

<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/business/a-bee-mogul-confronts-the-crisis-in-his-field.html>

Quotes:
“Every year at this time of year, we wonder are there going to be
enough bees,” said Bob Curtis, director of agricultural affairs at the
Almond Board, a trade group for almond growers.

Whatever the reason, in the year that ended in April 2016, 44 percent
of the overall commercial bee population died. In a typical year
before the plague, only 10 percent to 15 percent would have died.

He attributes this year’s relative good fortune to the decline last
summer of soy aphids, a tiny, translucent, invasive insect from Asia
that devastates soybean crops in America. Fewer of the pests meant
that many soybean farmers in South Dakota delivered only one
application of the pesticide known as neonicotinoids, Mr. Adee said,
and the spraying occurred before the arrival of his bees.

“The more you study it, the more obvious it becomes: the relationship
between the pesticides that have been sprayed everywhere over the last
10 years and what’s happening to bees,” Mr. Adee said.
----------------------

Interesting article about how the beekeepers are surviving.


BillK