permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

By Alexei Barrionuevo, The New York Times, February 27, 2007/. ”Bees
have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening…
the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of
the nation’s most profitable… Beekeepers are the nomads of the
agriculture world, working in obscurity in their white protective suits
and frequently trekking around the country with their insects packed
into 18-wheelers, looking for pollination work. Once the domain of
hobbyists with a handful of backyard hives, beekeeping has become
increasingly commercial and consolidated. Over the last two decades, the
number of beehives, now estimated by the Agriculture Department to be
2.4 million, has dropped by a quarter and the number of beekeepers by
half. Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to
maintain hives, also known as colonies, are rising along with the strain
on bees of being bred to pollinate rather than just make honey. And
beekeepers are losing out to suburban sprawl in their quest for spots
where bees can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the
pollination season… Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the
insecticides used to try to kill mites are harming the ability of queen
bees to spawn as many worker bees. The queens are living half as long as
they did just a few years ago. Researchers are also concerned that the
willingness of beekeepers to truck their colonies from coast to coast
could be adding to bees’ stress, helping to spread viruses and mites and
otherwise accelerating whatever is afflicting them… To cope with the
losses, beekeepers have been scouring elsewhere for bees to fulfill
their contracts with growers. Lance Sundberg, a beekeeper from Columbus,
Mont., said he spent $150,000 in the last two weeks buying 1,000
packages of bees — amounting to 14 million bees — from Australia.”