Actually, this is very true! We just had a field trip (homeschool group) to visit with a beekeeper, last week, here in GA. We learned that beekeepers “rent” their hives to farmers during pollination seasons, and having the bees augment the pollination process increases crop yield by approximately 80%, which as you can imagine is a significant profit for the farmer, and a significant increase in the supply of fresh produce to US markets, thus decreasing our prices as consumers.
One of the mothers asked the beekeeper if he himself had experienced this hive loss, and if so did he have any explanations for it. He said he had had some hive loss, and that it specifically occurred at farms where either the crops were GMO (genetically modified), or where they had recently been sprayed with any kind of chemical (such as fertilizer, or bug repellent). It seems the honeybees only feel inclined to pollinate natural plants, and if they didn’t find such plants near the hives, they would fly as far as, IIRC, 45 miles away from it to find something suitable as food. As you can imagine, they don’t all make it back to the hive, either through disorientation, or through being slammed on someone’s windshield, etc.
It was actually quite fascinating to learn how strongly our economy leans on honeybees! Here is a link to his website:
(BTW, the honey he brought with him for us to taste was the tastiest I have ever had!)
Nonsense, the level of pesticide use is at its lowest level in decades as a percentage of fields treated and pounds used.
Show me the bodies or shut up, is what I say to all who wildly speculate.
I've been a beekeeper for the last 4 years and now have 3 hives. Its my understanding that bees will typically travel upwards of a 2 mile radius of their hive to find nectar and pollen. The furthur they go, the more they need to use their load of nectar as energy to return to the hive. Beyond 2 miles, they are in the "red" as far as making the trip worthless, or a net negative. Its not that they will travel 2 miles, but that they have a mechanism to venture only as far as they need to (their "waggle" dancing to communicate nearby nectar sources - how close and how plentiful).
Could the bees have been lured to set up housekeeping somewhere else? How hard would it be to be a bee bandit, to be rustling bees?
14 and 110 esp.