Disappearing Honey Bees Could Sting Our National Economy

Something has caused millions of honey bees across 24 states to mysteriously vanish, without a trace, and scientists are scrambling to figure out why. States have seen their bee populations drop by anywhere from 30% to over 70%. Gene Brandi, from the California State Beekeepers Association, told Congress recently that this is the worst winter colony mortality that she has experienced in her 30 years of beekeeping. Dave Hackenberg, a Pennsylvania beekeeper went to pick up his 400 bee colonies and the bees had just disappeared. "There were no dead bees, no bees on the ground, just empty boxes," Hackenberg said. "In almost 50 years as a beekeeper, I've never seen anything like it." Hackenberg has lost roughly 1,900 of his 2,900 hives and other operators have lost up to 90% of their hives. Beekeepers are now asking for government intervention since the flight of bees could prove catastrophic for crop growers and beekeepers nationwide.

Domestic honey bees work to pollinate over 90 varieties of fruits and vegetables in the United States. This $15 billion a year industry includes crops such as apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, citrus crops, vine crops, and almonds. California and its beekeepers and crop growers will be extremely hard hit by the bee flight. California supplies 80% of the world's almonds, and almond growth is 100% dependent on bee pollination. The California almond industry generates $2 billion a year to the local economy and depends on 1.4 million bees to get the job done. Other beekeepers are in business to provide honey and provide bees to crop owners. Hackenberg, who delivers bees to farmers, has arranged to import almost six million bees from Australia to replenish his colony.

Bee flights have been documented as far back as 1896, but no cause has ever been established. Scientists studying the current phenomenon have dubbed it "colony collapse disorder," or CCD. They continue to be stumped by what is causing the bees to literally disappear by the millions. The usual known parasites that threaten bees seem not to be the main cause of this flight. The few bees that have been found, left behind with the queen bee of the colony, seem to be infected with micro-organisms known to cause stress-related illnesses in bees. But, what remains mysterious to scientists, is that most of the other colony "workers" have simply vanished - no dead bees or sick bees have been found around the empty boxes of hives. The scientists believe a new pathogen may be the cause which would be weakening the bees' immune systems. Some agricultural pesticides using neonicotinoids, are aleady known to be deadly to honey bees. A 12-person task force has been established to look into this crisis further.