Forget global warming. If you want to worry about an environmental problem that will have a more immediate effect on your way of life and even your ability to feed your family, worry about the massive honeybee die-off. Honeybees are dying off at an alarming rate in this country and that could have a big effect on food production.
Commercial beekeepers in 26 states have reported that they have lost between 50 and 90 percent of their bees to an unidentified disease. Scientists say the country’s food supply might be at risk if die-off continues unabated.
Is there another animal whose existence is so critical to the entire ecosystem? If the bees don’t pollinate entire species go extinct, and not one or two exotic flowers but a lot of very basic flora.
My hive died out this winter, as did the hives of my friend who runs 3-4 hives. My hive still had honey reserves, so I’m not sure what happened. We live in N. Idaho, so I doubt some polutant or EM effect such as I’ve heard discussed. However, note that there are other polinators available for our food crops. We just don’t tend to breed them because they don’t make honey. If, God forbid, all the honeybees died, we could switch to them. Remember, bees aren’t native to the Americas. They were brought over by the Spanish and other European colonists. The native crops seemed to do just fine without them prior to that time.
John B
Thanks. It’s good to get an actual apiarist’s point of view.