37 million honeybees found dead

Barely two weeks after 25,000 bees were found dead in a parking lot in Oregon,

http://now.msn.com/bumblebees-drop-f...mass-in-oregon

another round of bee devastation has been reported. This time, the mass die-off was far worse. More than 37 million honeybees were found dead in Elmwood, Ontario, according to beekeeper Dave Schuit, who lost the bees from 600 hives in June. He and many others are pointing to insecticides called neonicotinoids, used in planting corn and some other crops. "Once the corn started to get planted [in Elmwood] our bees died by the millions," Schuit said. After a record-breaking loss of honeybees in the U.K., the European Union banned several pesticides in May, including neonicotinoid pesticides.

neonicotinoid

Originally Posted by Metachrosis

neonicotinoid

You win the race bud, enjoy. Bye

wasnt a race to win/loose
Nicotine is kiling the bugs,thank Bayer* on your way out

Preliminary results from an annual survey of beekeepers suggests that 31 percent of the nation's bee colonies died over the winter, raising new concerns over whether the country has enough honeybees to pollinate America's food supply.

Details provided to Secrets from the industry journal Bee Culture and the Bee Informed Partnership, which includes the Department of Agriculture, showed that hive deaths increased 42 percent from the year before.

The preliminary report, however, did not give any reason for the jump in dead honeybee hives, though industry representatives told Secrets that the main culprits are likely the pests like the Varroa mite, harsh weather and the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder.

"It's up from last year's mild winter, which should tell you something," said Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture.

The national bee hive analysis comes on the heels of a federal report raising grave concerns that there are not enough bees to pollinate the nation's crops. With 31 percent less hives, those concerns will grow. The nation went into the winter with 2.62 million hives, about a third of what the U.S. had in 1947.

Some 6,287 beekeepers who manage about 600,000 hives responded to the survey. Most were hobby beekeepers; many industrial beekeepers who truck hives into orchards, fields and nut groves said they were too busy to respond and several of them have reported much higher losses.

The report said that survey participants considered a loss rate of 15 percent as "acceptable," but 70 percent of them suffered losses greater than that.

This is a very serious problem, Colony Collapse Disorder is most likely caused by a variety of factors. There have been some good stories and shows about this including the 2009 movie 'the vanishing of the bees'. Scary stuff, huge impact on the world's food supplies.

I've been following these deaths fairly closely. It's pretty scary. We're also losing a lot of our native pollinators. Butterflies and native bees are on the decline nationwide due to a combination of factors. Most people don't realize how vital pollinators are to our food supply. These pollinator deaths are at least making us realize how incredibly important these insects are, I just hope we move fast enough to reverse these declines before it's too late. Our food prices are already high enough because of last year's drought, imagine a fruit crop failure on top of a grain crop failure.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer...llinators.html

Originally Posted by JColt

including neonicotinoid pesticides.

I did nor realize until I read around that imadacloprid (also used as Advantage for pets) is in this class of insecticides. What is worrisome is that once applied they last a long time. That's not good for the bees.
Once they are wiped out, anyone having an artificial pollinator technology will be able to rule the world. I wonder if it already exists?

Originally Posted by Lucille

Once they are wiped out, anyone having an artificial pollinator technology will be able to rule the world. I wonder if it already exists?

That is an excellent question! Here is something about are friends recently discussed Monsanto

Robotic Bees to Pollinate Monsanto Crops

http://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/...onsanto-crops/

our not are