The Beepocalypse is Over

Powerline ^ | April 2, 2024 | John Hinderaker

[chickenlips]

Fifteen or twenty years ago, and for some years following, there was a great deal of publicity about bee colonies dying out. The cause of the decline was unclear, but most people assumed it was somehow our fault. Where I live, “Save the Bees” signs started cropping up in yards and in front of apartment dwellings, along with “All Are Welcome Here” and “We Believe In Science.” Some people let their lawns go wild, not, as one might suspect, because they were too lazy to mow, but because they hoped a weed-filled lawn would be good habitat for bees.

But it seems the signs can come down now, as the Washington Post headlines: “Wait, does America suddenly have a record number of bees?”

After almost two decades of relentless colony collapse coverage and years of grieving suspiciously clean windshields, we were stunned to run the numbers on the new Census of Agriculture (otherwise known as that wonderful time every five years where the government counts all the llamas): America’s honeybee population has rocketed to an all-time high.

We’ve added almost a million bee colonies in the past five years. We now have 3.8 million, the census shows. Since 2007, the first census after alarming bee die-offs began in 2006, the honeybee has been the fastest-growing livestock segment in the country! And that doesn’t count feral honeybees, which may outnumber their captive cousins several times over.

[chickenlips]

If colony collapse was a bad as we were told the price of honey would have reflected it with sharp increases. While honey has increased in price, I didn't notice astronomical price increases or shortages of ordinary honey. My wife uses a lot of honey as a sweeter in drinks and recipes, so I have had an eye on this. I have noticed that there are more products on the shelves today listing honey as a ingredient than there were when the beepocalypse alarm was raised years ago, which means some of the price increase may have been because of increased demand.

[Bullish]

Don’t tell anyone... The govt’s gonna’ make us eat them.

[CatOwner]

One of the few positives of the past four years has been the resurgence of home gardens, whether for food, flowers, or general landscape. Many of these plants provide food for the pollinators. So, when the Biden administration says that home gardens for food are more damaging than commercial farms, they are dead wrong.

[Reddy]

Thank goodness the soft-spoken lady on YouTube who goes around helping people who don’t want insect hives in their houses will still be around. She always talks about saving the beeeees. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/w3AOC9N7Z4w

[PGR88]

The USDA has all kinds of charts

Total USA hives are down

Total USA beekeepers are steadily declining (more work Americans don’t want to do)

Production per hive steadily up (professionals are getting better at it)

Imports of honey also steadily up

[Newtoidaho]

I for one am alarmed at the drastic drop in the population of emus and ostriches.

[lee martell]

Michelle Obama has always wondered if that “Save the B’s!!”
campaign was actually some ironic, racist dogwhistle really meant to insult black women. Barack says she is “over thinking it”....///

[fidelis]

Whatever happened to those Murder Hornets everyone was freaking out about around 4 years ago?

[Veto!]

I got mail today from some organization that wants money to help “save the critically endangered bees”.

[Delta 21]

Bees wouldn’t bee bad. They are sweet with honey. Beetles probly taste like sh!t.

[Delta 21]

These idiots are spiking the ball on colony collapse disorder on the backs of the hard working bee keepers doing everything we can to keep the population as high as possible.

Thanks guys.

[TigersEye]

The bees are back in town.

If they wanna sting you better let 'em!

[piasa]

Honey bees are a non native invasive species that drive cavity dwelling songbirds, woodpeckers and cavity nesting small animals out of their homes and reduce the number of suitable nesting cavities.

During the beepocalypse they somehow failed to mention that, while screaming that all our crops would fail to produce without honeybees. Honeybees are back strong as ever and they are now wondering where some species of songbirds have gone.
It *must* be global warming, not the reduction in family farms, increase in birds of prey that target songbirds, or increase in bees.

In spite of the fact that much of our food comes from New World plants that performed well four hundreds if not thousands of years without the presence of European honey bees, they cursed only gloom and doom. Crops like peanuts, maygrass,marsh elder, corn, crab apples, plums, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, quinoa, amaranth, sweet potatoes, maple, blueberries, blackberries, cucurbits, regular potatoes, etc. They glossed over that there are numerous native species that pollinated crops in the New World all along because that would have tempered the hysteria.

[gnarledmaw]

Sent them home.

Turns out that per serving they were too nutritious.

[Ezekiel]

And next year it'll bee back beecause.. hive mentality. Apis bee on all their houses er hives.

What is the deal with llamas? Is it time to put up “Save the Llamas” signs? Are facing a llamapocalypse? I’m not sure why there were llama herds in the first place, so it is hard to know why they have declined.

This has always bee a question in the Hebrew world, so if you come to a Y in the road, stick with it.

[Gay State Conservative]

later

[Fresh Wind]

I have nothing against bees, but what annoys me is that people in this region call yellowjackets bees. Totally different creatures.

[Rennes Templar]

” so if you come to a Y in the road, stick with it.”

Funny but I always thought the alphabet had 25 letters. I’ve pondered but I just don’t know why.

[JackFromTexas]

Stop eating dung beetles!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

So, was any cause for the colony collapse ever discovered?