Todd Woody from Qaurtz (qz.com) writes “As we’ve written before, the mysterious mass die-off of honey bees that pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the US has so decimated America’s apis melliferapopulation that one bad winter could leave fields fallow.”
(Continue reading here)
Karen says
The link provided takes me to an article about Cybercrime.
Janice Dickson says
We have 3 huge zucchini plans that profusely produce beautiful yellow flowers, then nothing happens. They bloom and die. No bees, no zucchini.
A mini example of what lack of pollinators can cause, so to speak.
Stephan Sonn says
Man kills nature.
Gibson Anthony says
For what it’s worth, below are the responses I received from Senator Mikulski and Mr. Harris when I wrote to them about this issue.
Dear Mr. Anthony:
Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns about the long-term viability of the honey bee population. It’s good to hear from you.
Senator Boxer introduced an amendment to the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013 (Farm Bill) that would have established coordination among Federal agencies in assessing the health of the honey bee population. This amendment would have also created a taskforce to disseminate best practices for commercial bee-keeping. Unfortunately, this amendment was not considered during debate.
Knowing of your views will be helpful to me as the Senate continues to work on this issue. Again, thanks for writing. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance to you in the future.
Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator
Dear Mr. Anthony,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about the effect of pesticides on bee populations. As a member of Congress that represents agricultural communities, I recognize the importance that bees play in pollinating many of our crops which are vital to our food supply. I believe that determining the causes of the sharp decline in bee population is an important next step in addressing the problem.
You may be interested to know that in response to congressional inquiries, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report this past December titled “Bee Health: The Role of Pesticides.” This report describes changes in managed and wild bee populations, and addresses a list of possible causes, focusing largely on the role of pesticides. A copy of this report is available here. While no legislation has been introduced regarding this issue, please know I will keep your comments in mind as I go forward.
As the 113th Congress addresses the many challenges facing our nation, I hope you will continue to share your suggestions. For the fastest and most cost-effective response, please contact me via email. To keep up with my work in Congress, visit my website at harris.house.gov and sign up to receive updates at harris.house.gov/contact-me/newsletter.
Sincerely,
Andy Harris M.D.
Member of Congress