Honeybee die-off threatens food supply

Yahoo! ^ | May 2nd, 2007 | SETH BORENSTEIN

[bamahead]

Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet.

Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons.

In fact, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees. So if the collapse worsens, we could end up being "stuck with grains and water," said Kevin Hackett, the national program leader for USDA's bee and pollination program.

"This is the biggest general threat to our food supply," Hackett said.

While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this one seems particularly baffling and alarming.

U.S. beekeepers in the past few months have lost one-quarter of their colonies — or about five times the normal winter losses — because of what scientists have dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder. The problem started in November and seems to have spread to 27 states, with similar collapses reported in Brazil, Canada and parts of Europe.

Scientists are struggling to figure out what is killing the honeybees, and early results of a key study this week point to some kind of disease or parasite.

[bamahead]

I'm shocked...not one mention of Global Warming ;p

Article is kind of alarmist, though.

[cripplecreek]

It could be a natural event worth some concern but I’m not predicting the extinction of mankind just yet. Just be glad there are things like corn that are pollinated by the wind.

[ElkGroveDan]

Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet.

I know! I know! (Waves hand in the air.)

The answer is bigger government, higher taxes, and more restrictions on personal lifestyles.

[Orange1998]

So how did the indians survive without bees.

[Fury]

perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet

Oh, please - this reporter needs to shut the hell up!

How pathetic...

[Dumpster Baby]

Thank God we still have locust plagues! Yumm!

[bamahead]

Lotsa protein in those babies!!!

[Disambiguator]

Desert shrimp. Are they kosher?

[Thinkin' Gal]

Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers.

Tastiest? What a weird list. Geez, wonder how "tasty" his cooking is.

[Dumpster Baby]

I don't know about locusts, but you might try frying a big ol' pan of Jerusalem Crickets:

[Thinkin' Gal]

Desert shrimp. Are they kosher?

Locusts, Giraffes, and the Meaning of Kashrut

[fzx12345]

There is a consensus building that it's from a certain parasitic mite.

[DuncanWaring]

...locust plagues...

They're kind of like popcorn - you have to pick the hulls out from between your teeth afterward.

[ErnBatavia]

"I don't bees anyhow...."

[cripplecreek]

So how did the indians survive without bees.

They didn't grow millions of acres of crops that required millions of bees for pollination. Also I suspect that there were bees here before europeans arrived.

[pandoraou812]

Bee alert ping

[bamahead]

Love your tagline...one of my favorite tunes.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Tastiest? What a weird list. Geez, wonder how "tasty" his cooking is.

That celery's a little too spicey for me.

[Orange1998]

I don’t believe before the Pilgrims arrived. The Indians called them White Man Flies.