Growers Fear the Sting of Bee Die-Off

[Sequoia]

LONG BEACH, Pacific County - The moon rose fat and full, and evening mist was licking the cranberry bogs as Eric Olson and his “girls,” as he calls them - several million of them - arrived for work late last month.

“I’m glad to see them,” said cranberry grower Bob Weyl, 79, as Olson unloaded pallet upon pallet of honey-bee hives. “Without bees,” Weyl said matter-of-factly, “I wouldn’t have a crop.”

No matter how large or modern agricultural operations become, for many growers like Weyl, success - or failure - still mostly comes down to Apis mellifera, the European honey bee. The simple act of pollination remains the magic touch of agriculture.

Fully a third of the entire U.S. food supply depends on bees for pollination, from melons to cucumbers, cranberries to apples, and nearly the entire world supply of almonds, according to the National Research Council. Six of Washington’s top 10 crops depend at least indirectly on honey bees, state agricultural statistics show. And those six were worth nearly $3 billion last year.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/10/1781/

[denverbill]

1. My money is on a new GM crop.

Someone came up with a genetically modified corn or soybean with a built in insecticide or herbicide. Either the bees are killed outright or they homing sense gets screwed up.

[NeoGreen]

2. here in rural upstate NY...

I have recently planted a small (~1/4 acre) new field of clover and pasture cover and lately the clover has been "swarmed" with honey bees. When i stand in the middle I could hear the humming all around me.

Anecdotal, but hopeful.