America was called the ‘land of milk and honey’ by the old world, yet neither cows nor honeybees are native to the Americas. Surprisingly, it is not the honey from the bees that is so vital to our economy. Pollination by bees adds over 15 billion dollars to our economy (Flores). Around 130 crops need honeybees in order to thrive (Kaplan). In the United States, honeybees produce about 200 million pounds of honey, worth 125 million dollars, and about 3.9 million pounds of beeswax, worth 7 million dollars (Doebler). Beekeeping is a serious business, not only for our economy, but for our food. Around one third of our food depends on pollination, including coffee, green chile, soybeans, apples, berries, squash, almonds, and many others (NRDC). In California alone, the almond nick requires the service of about half the United States bee colonies, around 1.2 million (Flores).
Unfortunately, the bee business isn’t going so well. A new phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has been taking a great toll on our honey bees. During fall 2006, beekeepers in many countries around the world noticed a sudden disappearance of managed honey bee colonies, and for no apparent reason. These hives were formerly healthy, but for some reason bees simply abandoned their hives, often leaving honest the queen and a few caretakers. In February 2007, the syndrome had been named (Kaplan). Congress recognized Colony Collapse Disorder as a threat in 2007 and granted emergency funds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study honey bee disappearances. The 2008 Farm Bill granted the Department of Agriculture $20 million each year to support bee research and related work (NRDC). Research is underway to try to determine the causes of CCD, and how to prevent it from occurring. Possibilities involve combinations of pesticide exposure, invasive parasitic mites, inadequate food supply, transportation, and many different viruses. As the cause is believed to be from multiple sources, pinpointing them will be difficult. Many viruses are believed to be passed on by the mites, which in of themselves are devastating enough.
At an apiculture conference, a commercial beekeeper cries in front of the audience. In 6 months, he was broke, loosing his house, and his entire beekeeping operation had been wiped out. The cause of his disaster was two little parasites. One, the varroa mite, is described by James Tew, a specialist in beekeeping at Ohio State University, as the “biggest catastrophe to befall apiculture since its establishment in this country in the 1600s… In only a few years, the varroa mite redesigned nearly 300 years of North American apiculture in ways akin to the dramatic way the boll weevil restructured the cotton-producing industry … in the early 1920s.” Varroa mites are sizable enough to be seen by the eye. Female varroa mites attach to bees between abdominal segments, feeding on a substance similar to our blood, called hemolmph. When females enter a nursery cell, called a brood cell, the mites lay eggs. The mite nymphs then feed on the developing bees. The mites and bees leave the brood cell together, as adults. The mites cause many birth defects, such as shortened abdomens, deformed wings and legs, or sometimes cause death. Colonies infested with varroa mites that are not treated can survive for about 8-18 months. Scott Camazine, an entomologist at Penn State University, believes that the mites aren’t the main plight. He says that the mites are simply making viral transmission faster (Doebler).
The other mite feeding on honeybees are tracheal mites. These mites are much smaller than varroa mites and believed to be less dangerous. These parasites live and feed in the bee’s trachea, clogging the airway and limiting respiration. The major effect of this is that bees cannot raise their metabolic rate to keep warm while they fly. Beekeepers frequently set grease patties or menthol chips inside the hives when honey is not being produced to slow the spread of tracheal mites.
Many studies trying to determine the cause of CCD are built on a project started for the California almond crops. The eye started as a method to artificially supplement the honeybee’s diets in order to do larger colonies (Flores). As California is a major consumer of honeybee use for pollination, it is not surprising that the first effort to fight CCD have started there.
Entomologist Jeff Pettis, research leader of the ARS Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, is working on several collaborations to try to determine the cause of CCD. One eye is looking at the combination of pesticide use and Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), found in a previous study with university researcher Jay D. Evans, to be strongly associated with CCD. The second experiment will look at the effects of varroa mites and pesticides combined. If these two studies fail, other combinations will be explored. One of the issues with these and other CCD studies is that samples have only been taken after CCD has been reported. Therefore, Pettis has begun his study with three different beekeepers one both healthy and affected hives. Hopefully, the samples will give information to previous signs and causes of CCD (Kaplan). John Adamczyk, the acting research leader for ARS’s Honey Bee Research Unit in Weslaco, Texas, explains the hope for the study: “At the end of the 5-year cycle we’ll have specific recommendations that the beekeeper could use on how to manage bees more efficiently during long-range transport for pollination. We want to be able to transfer that technology to be useful by the ruin user” (Flores).
A major issue is the huge outburst of IAPV. Some opinion that importation of bees from Australia and China had brought the disease with them, but entomologists Yanping (Judy) Chen and Evans, both also with the ARS Bee Research Laboratory, found otherwise. Chen said that “Our study shows that, without seek information from, IAPV has been in this country since at least 2002. This work makes it positive that IAPV is not a new introduction from Australia” (Kaplan). This however, does not rule out IAPV as a cause of CCD.
American foulbrood a bacterial disease of the honey bee, which is very devastating to bee colonies. The most obvious symptom is a creamy or dark brown glue-like larval remain that can be pulled out in a rope. This test is known as the ‘matchstick test.’ It affects the brood cells, killing bees before they are productive, usually while pupae, and occasionally with larvae. Brood cells may be spotted, showing early signs (de Graaf). Introduction of American foulbrood, or any other foulbrood, can kill off all future generations of honey bees is not spotted and treated immediately. A fresh drug, tylosin tartrate (TYLAN Soluble), has been approved for use to treat foulbrood (Honey Bees). If treated, colonies can continue to thrive.
A very large study involving pesticides has been conducted. 158 pesticides were tested among the honey bee, the leaf cutting bee, and the alkali bee. The leaf cutting bee is a solitary nesting bee that mainly foraging on alfalfa plants. Nests are built in narrow tube-like cavities, and separate cells are made for each egg and lined with alfalfa. The cell is then plugged with alfalfa leaves, and a novel nest is made in the area. The alkali bee is also a solitary, bee that builds nests in soil. This western bee likes alkaline soils near water. The nest is between five and twenty centimeters deep, with many oval cells branching off the main shaft. This bee pollinates mainly alfalfa, onion, clover, celery, and mints. A smaller pesticide study has also been conducted on the bumble bee. Bumble bees are social insects, like honey bees. They develop smaller nests, consisting of only 100-500 individuals. They prefer to nest underground, like the alkali bee, and need undisturbed meadows, old barns or woodlots. Bumble bees work harder than honeybees at cooler temperatures. They pollinate a larger variety of plants, but do particularly well on tomatoes and berries. The results were very similar for all species, although clear bees do better than others with different pesticides (Devillers).
Many researchers have found a completely different solution to the problem of CCD, that is, to simply not have honey bee hives. Wild bees, also known as non-honey bees, have been shown to be better pollinators than the honeybee, although it is still unclear as to whether non-native honey bees are negatively effecting wild native bee populations. Studies are conflicting, and great pollination results have occurred when used together, yet the large numbers of honeybees could have a large impact on native species if food supplies are limited (Paini). Entomologist James Cane has found that a new native bee, called the Osmia bee, or the Mason bee, is a wonderful pollinator of berries. Cane learned of the bee from bee enthusiast Ron yon der Hellen, who told Cane of the quarter-inch long metallic green bee that had housed itself in his wooden nesting boards that he keeps as housing for leaf cutting bees. Cane borrowed several hundred of these bees and found that they visited as many red raspberry flowers as did honey bees in the same amount of time,, and nearly as many blackberry flowers. While red raspberries and blackberries are self-pollinating, bee visits made berries better. Cane found that red raspberry flowers visited by honey bees or the Osmia bees bore berries that were 30% heavier. The Osmia bee however, always gathered pollen, while honeybees did not. Even better, these bees are resistant to the devastating mites. After 5 years of study, Cane plans to give these emerald-green bees to growers and beekeepers (Wood).
Another peep shows that native bees are up to five times more efficient at pollinating sunflowers than honeybees alone. Researchers at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California found that wild bees play a crucial role in the pollinating process. Sarah Greenleaf, the study’s leader, says that, “Up until now, we have thought that honey bees alone were doing most of the pollination, but now we know that a lot of honey bee pollination happens because of their interaction with wild native bees. This means that wild bees are much, much more important that we previously thought.” She and Claire Kremen observed the behavior of honey bees and wild native bees in sunflower fields during two different growing seasons. They found that in fields where wild bees were rare, one honeybee visit produced, on average, three seeds. As the number of wild bees increased, so did the number of seeds produced, up to 15 seeds per visit. To keep their data clean, each flower was bagged before it bloomed, allowed one visit, and then re-bagged until the seeds were produced (Two Bees). The drastic difference shows that native bees are a vital part of the pollination process.
Native bees are shown to be the most important crop pollinators in a recent discover of watermelon crops. This study showed that native bees alone are sufficient to pollinate the watermelon. The study involved 46 species of wild bees, and showed that native bees, given proper habitat, could replace the honey bee if needed. Natural habitat must be provided, launch soil for soil-dwelling species, and year round food supply must be available within 0.3 kilometers, although further distances may suffice (Winfree).
Native bees are a possible, and currently the best, solution to the problem of CCD. To encourage native bees to live around your home, farm, or orchard, plant native plants. Native plants will thrive without much care and native bees are already well genuine to them. Use diversity in color, shape, and flowering times to attract many species to make permanent homes. Not all bees like the same colors or the same shape flowers, so be sure to get a variety. Avoid pesticides, or read the Devillers study to settle what would be safest to use, and when. Sure pesticides can only be used safely on different parts of plants; however there are a few pesticides which have been shown to be completely safe for the studied bees. Nesting sites are a must, so leave so open ground undisturbed, and consider making nesting boxes (NRDC). All these things combined can aid a farm or orchard save money by not renting out honeybees, and as CCD becomes more of an issue, these prices may rise.
Although native bees seem to be a solution to the CCD problem, other issues arise. Most wild bees are solitary, making transportation to large crops like the California almonds nearly impossible. If you of honeybees stopped in the United States, the millions of dollars received from honey and beeswax would no longer exist. These products would need to be imported, and prices would rise drastically. As CCD affects the world, these products may someday be completely eliminated if we do not catch a handle on CCD. Also, the different native bees have other diseases they are susceptible to, and share many of the same diseases with honeybees.
Colony Collapse Disorder is a serious problem effecting beekeepers, farmers, and consumers. If we cannot get a handle on what is causing this, the world may fall into a greater depression, and food prices will soar. To combat this, we need to stop abusing our honey bees and encourage native bees to take residence near farms and orchards. Pesticide use needs to be cut down, obsolete in safer ways, or altogether eliminated. Mass transportation of hives over hundreds of miles needs to be stopped, as this likely causes great stress to the honeybees, making them more susceptible to disease.
de Graaf, D. C., “Diagnosis of American Foulbrood in Honey Bees: a Synthesis and Proposed Analytical Protocols.” Letters in Applied Microbiology 43.6 (Dec. 2006): 583-590. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 27 Oct. 2008 .
Devillers, J., “Comparative toxicity and hazards of pesticides to Apis and non- Apis bees. A chemometrical study.” SAR & QSAR in Environmental Research 14.5/6 (Oct. 2003): 389-403. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. [University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 1 Nov. 2008 .
Doebler, Stefanie A. "The Rise and Tumble of the Honeybee." Bioscience 50.9 (Sep. 2000): 738. Environment Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 3 Nov. 2008 .
Flores, Alfredo. "Improving Honey Bee Health." Agricultural Research 56.2 (Feb. 2008): 7-7. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 27 Oct. 2008 http://libproxy.unm.edu/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=a9h&AN=28748594&site=ehost-live.
Honey Bees Procure a New Antibiotic." Agricultural Research 54.7 (July 2006): 23-23. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 28 Oct. 2008 .
Kaplan, J. Kim. "A Complex Buzz." Agricultural Research 56.5 (May 2008): 8-11. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 28 Oct. 2008 .
NRDC: Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder. Sept. 2008. National Resources Defense Council. 2 Nov. 2008
Paini, D. R. "Impact of the introduced honey bee (Apis mellifera) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on native bees: A review." Austral Ecology 29.4 (Aug. 2004): 399-407. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 14 Nov. 2008 .
"Two Bees Better Than One." Science & Children 44.3 (Nov. 2006): 8-9. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM.]. 14 Nov. 2008 http://libproxy.unm.edu/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=ehh&AN=22885757&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Wood, Marcia. “Wonderful Wild Bees. (Hide story).” Agricultural Research 56.2 (Feb. 2008): 4-6. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 14 Nov. 2008 .
Winfree, Rachael, et al. “Native bees provide insurance against ongoing honey bee losses.” Ecology Letters
10.11 (Nov. 2007): 1105-1113. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 14 Nov. 2008 .
Filed under Farmers Insurance by on Mar 13th, 2011. Comment. 
Why do we as Americans continue to allow our elected government officials tell us what is right and what is wrong? When did we (American citizens) lose our state of democracy? When did we stop being a country of the people, by the people, and for the people? When is the last time the everyday blue collar hard working citizen (that supports this country with his/her tax dollars) was truly represented in Washington rather than special interest groups that have the ability to throw money at any issue they want in their favor? Why do we as UNITED STATES CITIZENS sit back and allow real issues to continually be swept under the carpet that is smoke screens put out by our politicians to sway our attention away from the real issues. Why do we as a country continue to exploit, consume and support issues in other countries when we can’t even fix the same and/or similar issues in our bear back yard? We (the United States) have starving children, homeless, unemployment, violence etc. factual here, how can we as a country complain or try to clean other countries back yards when ours is such a mess?
Let’s examine the Declaration of Independence for a miniature the one written by our CHRISTIAN fore fathers
“IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes well-known for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
The opening statement of the Declaration says a lot, but can be simplified. I feel the Nicholas Cage’s character “Benjamin Gates” in the movie “National Treasure” simplifies it best in saying, “Those who have the means have the responsibility, to take action. That is exactly what our fore fathers did. In the subsequent statements following this opening are charges against the King of England. Our fore fathers charged the king with several injustices against the colonists.
Our fore fathers feeble their most powerful means to engage on the responsibility to make our country free from the British Crown, Their Voice!
We all are given a voice by the documents written to attach, as well as the freedom that our fore fathers have fought and died for, in this country. We need to use the most noteworthy weapon we have by voting and by letting our elected officials know that we want real issues dealt with.
What issues are there?
· Rising cost of living
· Unemployment
· Jobs being sent out of the country
· Rising fuel costs
· Affordable Health care
· Increasing violence in schools and everywhere
· Unpleasant education
In my idea, there is a smoke screen up fair now. The gun control debate has reared its ugly head once again, we haven’t heard about it for several years but now in this time of Presidential elections and rising gas prices it has re-surfaced. Let’s be realistic, common sense tells any logical person that allowing people to carry arms in public is asking for more violence and crime. Gun enthusiasts and activists, like my father, will say it is a just by the constitution and for protection.
Let’s see, if the only people allowed to carry weapons in public are law officials and/or military then you don’t need it for protection. The second amendment states;
“Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being critical to the security of a free State, the legal of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Lets examine this for a moment; “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State”
A Well regulated Militia, regulated by whom? We can assume by the government. During the revolutionary war, a militia was groups of farmers and towns’ people set up to assist the military in rural areas and on land that was familiar to them. Translated to modern day you could argue that today’s reservists are a type of militia the reservists are established to encourage the regular military.
The honest of the people, what people? By reading the first line, “A well regulated militia” to me this means the people in a militia the right of those people to gain and bear arms to protect the freedom of others within the state and/or country.
As citizens we have the right to occupy arms be it for sporting purposes, collecting or protection, bearing arms to me would be the suitable to in times of grief or war, not in everyday life.
Enough on the smoke screen; let’s address some issues.
Let’s start with Health care; rising health care has been a political hot button for several years, blame it on smokers, drinkers, pollution, preservatives in food, whatever. Let me ask you this, people long to eat properly and eat good food, right? How can people eat properly when they cannot afford the “good foods” they want. Why should it cost so much to eat right to be healthy? Lower health care? Compose it easier and less expensive for people to eat right and eat the proper kinds of food, thus making people healthier and not using health care so much thus in theory lowing health care costs. If more people are healthy and not sick that means fewer claims made on health care insurance, less claims means less pay out means more profit for insurance carriers, which is the bottom line, MONEY!
Jobs being sent out of the country, rising cost of living and unemployment, all kind of play together. They are all on the playground of making money. Why do we give tax breaks to companies that send jobs out of our country instead of tax breaks to companies that create jobs in our country? Barak Obama is the only candidate that has touched on this issue. This is a major issue, why do CEO’s need to make millions why does anyone need that much money? My Christian beliefs deny me that these people are idolizing false Gods and adore the almighty dollar. Just an example, and my concept and I don’t have exact facts but you can look it up for yourself. The family of a MAJOR retailer reportedly made in one year 19 billion dollars.? WHAT? Who in the world needs that kind of money? If this company is so family, and community oriented as they claim, why wouldn’t they return oh say 9 billion or so wait on into their company to increase their employee’s rates of pay so they can afford to live, or cut costs further to extend more savings to shoppers in the community.
Remember the ragged saying “you can’t take it with you” duh then why do we need so much? Again the bottom line is MONEY!
Poor education; wow this is a bad subject but we have kids graduating every year that cannot read, do simple math, or comprehend simple leases or rental contracts. Why, do we allow our future to be dumped on, on a regular basis? Why are so many parents not involved in what their children do? Well one answer is that some parents would rather their kids were out of the way than have to deal with them. There is another reason, so many parents have to work two jobs or work and go to school to make ends meat, so when do they have family time, aka the family dinner where as parents we spend time with our children learning about their day what’s going on in their lives etc. Parents need to be keen in their future (children).
Children need to be shown that school is like their parents job, school is their job, would parents go to their job dressed as their kids go to school, I doubt it! A dress code in schools is necessary; I don’t mean uniforms, but proper attire that is not flaunting, sexual, advertising, racist, promoting wrong doing etc. Some parents will argue that stopping children from wearing what they want to wear does not allow them to be individuals; you can be an individual without being a spectacle. Hormone charged boys are not learning or paying attention in class when they are looking at the undergarments of the girl in front of them or trying to find a glimpse of the bra of the girl wearing the sheer top or spaghetti string top. Or the girl looking at the boy’s boxers hanging out of his pants that are hanging off his backside. We send our kids to school (their job) to learn, not to be in a fashion show. Children are the future of this country and frankly as I look at kids today in school this country’s future scares me.
Rising gas prices; why do we as American citizens do we sit idly by and allow gas prices to continually climb? Why does the government continually allow sky rocketing prices in an economy that cannot afford them? How can anyone expect to stimulate the economy when people cannot even afford the gas to go to work? The average job available in today’s America is around $8.00 per hour lets break it down;
$8/hr X 40hrs/wk = $320/wk
$320/wk X biweekly pay 2x’s mo = $640/month
Gas is currently $3.24/gallon
The average cars gas tank is about 15 gallons which translates into $48.60 a week; let’s say $50.00/week equals $200.00/month in gas alone, now there is utilities, rent or mortgage, food. Where is the money to assign away for retirement, since we all know that social security will be gone soon and even now is not enough for people to live off of? Let’s not forget insurance how do we pay for that. People that cannot afford insurance are another cause of high health care costs.
How many times has this happened to you, your employer says that you are getting a 3% cost of living raise, then go home and on the news they space that the cost of living has increased 16% did you really gain anything?
How can anyone make a living when their income does not add up to their cost of living? The cost of living needs to decrease and the average income needs to increase, so many Americans are relying on credit and credit cards ultimately spiraling them into debt and owning nothing.
So how do we fix things? Let’s start with making alcohol expensive. In the movie “I Robot” Will Smiths character pays $46.50 for four beers, makes sense to me if it cost that much many people wouldn’t drink as much thus in theory chop drunk driving. Now, saying that, drunk drivers should be paying 10 times the amount to register a vehicle, renew a license, etc. they should also have to be issued a pink license plate telling everyone that sees it that they are an idiot. In my opinion anyone that drives drunk and kills someone else should be tried for pre meditated murder because they knew they shouldn’t be driving, it’s time for people to pay for the Privilege to operate a motor vehicle. This should hold true for anyone, movie star, singer, or the average Joe.
Filed under Farmers Insurance by on Jan 20th, 2011. Comment.
