Posted on 05/14/2002 9:27:40 AM PDT by cogitator
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:29 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
In recent years, two tiny spider-like parasites have been weakening and killing bee populations across the United States. While the mass media have played up the threat of Africanized "killer" bees in the Southwest, the rest of the country has been losing 80 percent or more of its wild honeybee populations.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Many of our key fruit crops are most reliant on honeybees for pollination. At some point, the bee population will dip below the threshold where lack of pollinators will become a problem.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
On a related note, that underscores a problem with big government -- the big fluff stays and gets defended while the small important stuff is cut because it isn't big enough to have any political pull.
There were none in the hemisphere until the Europeans brought them over during colonial times. Sparrows, or starlings either.
Very true. I grew up in central Wisconsin, and I remember that anytime there was clover in the lawn (which happened regularly), you'd see a few honeybees in it.
Not anymore. I see bumblebees and carpenter bees, but not honeybees.
...I don't see many honey bees anymore.I've noticed the absence of honeybees for the last three Springs/Summers. In the interim, I have read about the mite and fungus problems these bees are experiencing.
I wonder if people with just a few fruit trees around their home are going to have to start hiring apiaries to get them pollinated. Seems sad, doesn't it?
Which is why beekeepers from California to Virginia are scratching their heads at the Bush administration's proposal to close three of the four Department of Agriculture bee research laboratories, including the first, opened in the 1890s in Chevy Chase and moved to Beltsville in 1939.
Well this taxpayer here is scratching his head at the whining of beekeepers from California to Virginia.
If my livelihood were threatened, and these laboratories were so valuable to rescuing it, I might kick in some of the profits from my honey sales or pollination contracts to fund the research necessary. I might even have to raise prices, passing the costs of this research onto the people who benefit most from it.
But I guess it would be far easier to whine to the press that not enough money is being confiscated from others against their will to combat threats to my standard of living.
The secret of a good crop is bees, I have been told. The sad fact is that whenever there is a hive found in the neighborhood, the exterminator is called in and he won't take the hives to beekeepers like they used to. The hives have to be destroyed because of the threat of Africanized bees.
It broke my heart when I had to have one destroyed ... I begged the fellas to please just take them out into the desert or something and not kill them all. They couldn't do otherwise, they said. I was warned that if I didn't have the hive "removed", the bees might sting neighbors or kids, and really cause trouble.
That was three years ago, and I haven't had a good citrus crop since.
g
There were none in the hemisphere until the Europeans brought them over during colonial times.
Which raises the question of what did the pollinating before the honey bee was here.
I agree that this is not what government is for. Sad what's happening, though.
Good points. Actually, the article indicates that the beekeepers are having trouble maintaining their livelihood due to the parasitic and climatic losses. But the importance of the pollinators to the U.S. produce/farm industry would seem to indicate that they should be the ones "bearing the burden" of research funding. Which makes me wonder; are farmers, particularly of produce, making enough money to fund research like this? I have no idea if that's feasible or not.
So then it comes down to the user end; people who buy fruit and vegetables at the store. If prices were suddenly to triple, would they buy it or not buy it? Would they complain? Would they prefer higher taxes so that the government could fund research on honeybees, or higher prices so that the producers of produce can use some of their profits to fund research on honeybees?
I don't know the answer. In a free market, you'd raise the prices. But then you face the prospect of losing customers who will buy cheaper imported alternatives. So you put in tariffs to force those prices higher, and the affected countries raise tariffs on your agricultural exports in retaliation... it gets thorny, doesn't it?
If they sit around whining and waiting for the government to do it, the bee will go the way of the dodo.
(BTW, is this threat regional so far? My NJ garden has plenty of bees.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.