- Title: USA: American beekeepers stung by shortage
- Date: 2nd March 2007
- Summary: (W5) BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (MARCH 1, 2007) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JAY EVANS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, SAYING: "The crops involved include the favorites of people in this country and elsewhere like almonds, melons, a lot of the vegetable crops in the spring and fruits. I think that what we would see is higher prices for many of those crops and possibly a change towards foods that need pollination to a lesser extent, or don't need pollination at all like corn and grains that are often wind pollinated. So, it may be a more expensive diet for us or for many of us a shift in diet towards foods that don't need as much pollination." CLOSE UP OF BEES EVANS PLACES WOOD ON TOP OF COLONY
- Embargoed: 17th March 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Environment / Natural World,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA27VIJCMJ19M7SDNSUWU2WDTQ
- Story Text: United States bee colonies decimated by mysterious "colony collapse disorder." Researchers in the United States have been baffled by a new phenomena responsible for killing off of honeybee colonies.
Beekeepers in 22 states have reported losses of up to 80 percent of their colonies in recent weeks, leaving many unable to rent the bees to farmers of crops such as almonds and, later in the year, apples and blueberries.
The bee industry has experienced drops before but none have been as severe or widespread as the latest plummet.
"The beekeepers who have been in the business the longest suggest that this is the greatest loss that they have seen. I guess what's most worrying to many beekeepers is the losses seem to be more sudden than usual and also hard to explain," said Dr. Jay Evans a bee researcher for the United States Department of Agriculture. "They aren't associated with the typical diseases that we've seen in bees. They've left little trace of what's happened to the bees that have died." Researchers from state and federal agriculture agencies have been frustrated in their search for a cause of "colony collapse disorder" because affected hives are often empty except for the queen and a few bees.
"No one has really found a smoking gun yet and maybe we won't find one right off the bat. We are keeping the net as wide as possible in trying to investigate anything that might be a stress factor for bees or caused them to die," said Evans.
Some avenues being explored include diet, environmental impacts, disease and mites.
Fruit, vegetable and almond farmers are eager to find the cause and solution to the problem. According to a study by Cornell University, honeybees pollinate more than 14-billion dollars (U.S.) worth of seed and crops in the United States each year. If the trend continues, consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere will face some changes at the market.
"The crops involved include the favorites of people in this country and elsewhere like almonds, melons, a lot of the vegetable crops in the spring and fruits. I think that what we would see is higher prices for many of those crops and possibly a change towards foods that need pollination to a lesser extent, or don't need pollination at all like corn and grains that are often wind pollinated. So, it may be a more expensive diet for us or for many of us a shift in diet towards foods that don't need as much pollination," Evans said.
Evans and others are working to help prevent that from happening. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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