Beekeepers in Tennessee are being encouraged to use queen bees that have been bred to resist mites. (jose fernandez/flickr.com)
Beekeepers across the country report losing nearly 44 percent of their colonies over the last year, according to an annual report just out. It was put together by the USDA’s Bee Informed Partnership in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America and the USDA. The report says climate change, loss of habitat and pesticide use are killing off bees by the millions. Beekeeper Dave Shenefield, says varroa mites are also part of the problem in Tennessee and elsewhere. “How they kill the honeybees is they feed on the unhatched babies, that’s where they reproduce,” he explains. “Bees are like humans – they carry viruses, and when you get a high number of varroa mites in there, then you have a virus outbreak. The viruses go rampant.” Shenefield says queen bees that are more resistant to mites will help, but he stresses more should be done to control the pesticide use that’s contributing to the die-off. Tiffany Finck-Haynes, a food futures campaigner for the environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth, says some states and cities have banned consumer use of popular pesticides containing neonicotinoids, but she maintains it’s going to take federal action to make a real difference. “We’re seeing a lot of action at the local and state levels to restrict the use of pesticides,” she points out. “Hopefully, that will put some much needed pressure on EPA, USDA and our members of Congress to take significant action.” In the meantime, Shenefield says everyone can help by planting flowers and trees that bees feed on, and by curtailing use of pesticides. “We find some bad yellow jackets or when we’ve got grubs or something in our yard, you know, we’re out there to kill that bug,” he states. “Well, there’s other good bugs out there. So, we need to research this, and figure out when would be the safest time to kill what we want to kill, and not kill the good bugs.”
