Cooperative Living May 2015 - 17

Crucial to Agriculture Industry,
Tiny Insect Faces Huge Challenges
W
hen it comes to honeybees, the
news is not good: An annual
survey conducted by Bee
Informed Partnership (BIP), a private
research group, found that 32 percent
of Virginia's managed honeybee colonies
died last winter (October 2013-April
2014), higher than the national loss rate
(23.2 percent) during the same period,
although lower than Virginia's previous
44.6 percent winter loss.
While final figures for this year are
not yet available, Keith Tignor, a biologist
and state apiarist (beekeeper) with
the Virginia Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Services, says last year's
survey confirms " what we already know
- we continue to lose bees at an alarming
rate in Virginia. "
He explains, " In October and
November 2014 we were getting calls
about bee losses. We'd go into the hives
and the bees were starving, just from
the [previously] dry summer. When
plants are growing, they need water to
produce nectar. One of the things we
do not have control over is the environment:
The summer was dry and as a
result honeybees ate up a lot of stored
honey, [making] them not as strong
going into the winter. "
The plight of honeybees in recent
years has been documented in numerous
articles, reports and studies. First
shipped from England to Virginia in
1622, honeybees were valued by early
American colonists for everything from
beeswax for candles to honey for sweetening
food to medicinal uses. But today
honeybees' most important role relates
to food production: In Virginia alone,
over 80 crops are dependent on the honeybee
for pollination to produce fruits,
vegetables and nuts. Beekeepers are fond
of saying that one out of every three
bites of your food is either directly or
indirectly related to insect pollination.
" Some crops, like wheat and barley,
are wind-pollinated but [crops like]
apples, peaches, pumpkins, squash,
strawberries, and even peanuts to some
extent, rely heavily on pollinators [like
honeybees], " Tignor explains.
May 2015/www.co-opliving.com
Scientists attribute honeybee losses in
recent years to a combination of things,
including loss of forage land, parasites,
pathogens, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides
and exposure to pesticides.
Originating in Asia, the varroa mite was
introduced here in the late 1980s and
has since spread around the world.
Varroa mites weaken bees' immune
systems and carry viruses. When CCD
(colony collapse disorder) appeared in
2006, worldwide attention became
focused on dramatic honeybee losses.
Colonies contain the fertile queen
bee, a large population of infertile
worker bees and fertile male honeybees
known as drones. Drones' only function
is to mate with a queen; they die shortly
afterwards. The queen bee stores sperm
for future egg fertilization in her body
and can live up to five years. CCD is a
mysterious syndrome where a dead
colony with no adult bees or dead bee
bodies is found, but a live queen and
usually immature bees and honey can
be found.
Glenn Clayton, 82, owns the 69-acre
Hungry Hill Farm in Shipman in Nelson
County. Clayton started keeping bees in
the 1960s while living in New Jersey
and moved to Virginia in 1983. Today
he has 200-300 hives, with the majority
of income coming from providing local
pollination services. He also sells honey
to local shops. The vast majority of
Virginia beekeepers are hobbyists or
sideline beekeepers; Clayton is among
the 2 percent of state beekeepers who
are commercial beekeepers.
" August starts our winter in terms
of getting the bees ready for spring. We
had a drought in August 2013 so there
was no food source for them to collect
pollen. We started with 197 colonies;
during the summer a colony might have
60,000 to 80,000 bees but in the winter
they can phase down to 40,000 bees. By
March 2014 we had 17 colonies alive, "
he recalls. " We had to buy packages [of
bees]. We go through about two tons of
sugar each year feeding the bees if necessary.
This winter we've had about a 25
percent loss so far. "
(Top) Harrisonburg bee inspector John
McGhee examines frames from bee hives
in the Shenandoah Valley. (Middle) A
frame from a healthy beehive. More than
30 percent of Virginia's managed honeybee
colonies died from October 2013 to
April 2014. (Bottom) Since honeybees get
their nourishment from nectar and pollen,
planting a diverse variety of flowers and
plants in your garden will help.
15
MARTIN THORN PHOTO
ANASTASIA CANNON PHOTO
PHOTO COURTESY OF VDACS
Cooperative Living May 2015

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