Honeybee issue needs more buzz

To the editor:
Those that know me know that I have been a beekeeper for almost 20 years.
I am a charter member of the Indiana Beekeepers Association. I have attended their beekeeping school annually since its conception in 2001.
Beekeeping is a never ending learning process. I do my best to stay on top of the latest issues, which seem to be never ending. And there is always the school of hard knocks on issues that you can not learn in a classroom.
The reason I got into beekeeping was because I had planted an orchard and was not getting adequate pollination. I could not have gotten into beekeeping at a worse time. Honeybees had almost been wiped out by mites. And it has been one issue after another for the insect that pollinates a third of the food we eat ever since.
With the media coverage the honeybee has been getting, I think everyone knows they have been in trouble for many years now. Each year beekeepers have had larger and larger losses. Regularly 30 percent, then 50 percent, and then last winter here in the Midwest, an 80 percent average “winter kill.” Many beekeepers experienced 100 percent winter kill.
While working in California last winter I ran into a beekeeper at the hotel I was staying at. He was waiting on his semi loads of honeybees to come there from Florida to pollinate the almonds and vegetables. They were having trouble getting to California because of the severe weather the eastern half of the country was having at the time. With the intense farming there, they are totally dependant on large quantities of imported pollinators.
I told him I was from Indiana. He ships his bees all over the country. Pollinators are needed mostly for the melon crops that are grown here in Indiana. He said he quit shipping his bees to Indiana because his losses were too heavy there because of the chemicals.
Beekeeping has been a real struggle for me personally in recent years. I had my first case of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) last fall after having to completely rebuild my apiary population the previous spring. I have friends that have been in the business for years getting out of the business because of the struggles. It has become a very serious problem, not just here, but around the world.
People ask me, “So what is the problem with the honeybee?” In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE in July, scientists at the University of Maryland and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have discovered a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. Pollen samples collected on the East Coast were found to be contaminated on average with nine different pesticides and fungicides though scientists discovered 21 agricultural chemicals in one sample.
In an unhealthy environment, the honeybees lose their ability to resist infection, disease and parasites. Whatever the cause, the honeybee is obviously in trouble.
The main point I want to make in saying all this, and something that is almost always overlooked, is the honeybee is considered as the canary in the coal mine. When the canary dies, it’s time to leave the mine. Well folks, the canaries are dying. The problem is much bigger than just the honeybee. The honeybee is just the “indicator” of the condition of our environment. The problem affects other insects, birds, animals, plants and trees. And may I say humans also? Is it just me, or are more people sicker than ever these days?
In recent years, a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids has been linked to the bee deaths. In parts of Europe, beekeepers have taken to the streets in protest and in April regulators banned the use of the pesticide for two years in some countries. But new research shows that the interaction of multiple pesticides is affecting bee health.
I have never considered myself an “environmentalist”, but I know the honeybee is in trouble. Whether it’s in the land, the water or the air, it is seriously time to do something. Research and regulation is at best 10 years behind the time. Please speak out for change.
Jeffery Steed
Portland