Fewer Bees In US A Threat To World's Almond Supply

Fewer Bees In US A Threat To World's Almond Supply

www.yahoo.com

In an almond orchard in California's Central Valley, bee inspector Neil Trent pried open a buzzing hive and pulled out a frame to see if it was at least two-thirds covered with bees.

Trent has hopped from orchard to orchard this month, making sure enough bees were in each hive provided by beekeepers. Not enough bees covering a frame indicates an unhealthy hive — and fewer working bees to pollinate the almond bloom, which starts next week across hundreds of thousands of acres ...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.greenerideal.com
davis.patch.com
www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
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Caught Red Handed! USDA Bee Extinction Study Kept Secret!
Up To 12 Million Bees Found Dead In Florida And No One Knows Why

And so it begins?

The almond farmers need 1 million more colonies for
pollination in the almond orchards. This will also
affect the honey production, with last year not good,
this year excpected to be worse.

“We need 1.6 million colonies, or two colonies per acre, and California has only about 500,000 colonies that can be used for that purpose,” url

Already, bee "brokers" are making calls saying they will not be able to fulfill the orders.

This year's almond pollination may well set records, not only in terms of hive prices but also for
bee colony losses that have claimed 40 percent of some beekeepers' stocks, and in some cases much more url

Beekeepers have blamed the huge increase in the use of pesticides, specifally
the neonicotinoid family of pesticides. Accordingly, the EFSA (Europe)
has concluded that crops that attract honeybees cannot contain neocitotinods.

Well, its now seems very apparent that the U.S need to follow this action,
or face the consequences, which will affect the entire worlds food supply.

Yes, this season its almonds...

What might be the next crop to follow this trend?

www.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

yep, fruit orchards are very dependent on bees for pollination.
Last fall I added 6 more trees to my little orchard,I guess in a few months i`ll find out if i wasted my time adding them.

reply to post by Tardacus


Hopefully you would be ok, do you have any bees buzzing around?
Plant some clover, last year I had some around as peripheral weeds,
let them grow and I had bees!

It drives me crazy that more people aren't concerned about the bee population and doing something about it...Like stopping them from using Pesticides that kill the bees. As well as raising more bees. We're next...and currently have no clue.

Originally posted by relocator
Like stopping them from using Pesticides that kill the bees.

Yes, and stop them from inserting it into all of the food too! The GMO crops are laden
with these "neonics" pesticides, as they say its "in the genes".

And yes, it seems that the population is nearly clueless. I thought as this made headlines
years ago surely people would wake up and solve it crisis. Sadly it seems not.

If we are next, I am starting to think that maybe we deserve it.

Originally posted by relocator
It drives me crazy that more people aren't concerned about the bee population and doing something about it...Like stopping them from using Pesticides that kill the bees. As well as raising more bees. We're next...and currently have no clue.

I think it`s because most people know more about how to make a website than they know about where their food comes from and how it is grown.They seem to think that the food fairy magically restocks the fast food places and grocery stores every night.
they don`t realize how fragile the eco system is.

Damn..I hate this type of news.

So disheartening because all of this cyclical.

Bees --- Food ---- Humans ----- Pesticides from evil humans ---- less bees ---- less foods --- higher prices ----- angry humans ------ worthless currency ---- angrier humans ------- war...

Or in some other similar fashion.

Originally posted by antmax21
---- less bees ---- less foods ---

Thats the part that is coming if something is not done.
I know, its beyond a bummer.

On the flip side, as I was aware it was really kind of fun and
a unique experience to let the clover grow, and the bees were around.
I think my neighbors thouht I was goofy, outside taking pics
of thin air ( they probably could not see the bees)

Originally posted by Tardacus
I think it`s because most people know more about how to make a website than they know about where their food comes from and how it is grown.

Yep, I think people just take it for granted they are going to be able
to go on this way, go to the store and find all the goods.

Bees rely on many different flowering plants, shrubs and trees during different times of the year. When a commercial bee keeper takes his hives from farm to farm, orchard to orchard, of all the same crops, it forces the bees to live on mostly one kind of flower which weakens them. On top of that, in the fall they take the honey stored for winter and feed the bees sugar water that has no nutritional value. Basically the bee keeper is abusing his hives by doing these things. They would have less problems if the farmer had their own hives they leave on the farm.

Remember too, that these are European bees and are not native to anywhere but Europe, they are an invasive species to the Americas. What did all the plants in America do before the introduction of the European honey bee? Most all flowers attract most every insect around including flies, butterflies, wasps, hornets, wild bees, beetles, ants, etc., and even spiders that prey on the other bugs, all of which help to pollinate the flowers.

The European honey bee is most important to large scale monoculture corporate farms and monoculture farming is just asking for these pandemic type of problems. They should be studying the wild pollinators for problems and stop treating domestic bees like honey factories and crop pollinators.

More religious crap from the ecoevangelists.
If you really wanted "natural" they would kill all the honeybees. Most of the honey bees come from farms where they are all pumped with drugs and bred to produce honey. ALL of the honeybees in north America were brought over from Europe originally. Those bees should not even be here in the first place.

Have you seen what these plantations look like?




Does that look like a nice, diverse and "natural" place to anyone?
This insane, mass-produce, monoculture orchards are going to be the death of all of us.

Look at this one too:



And don't be fooled by the seemingly lush trees- no, look at the ground. Not a single straw of grass or weed or anything.

I'd also like to point out that though the species of bees are of european origin they are mainly imported from Australia since that continent is the last remaining not affected by the mass die-off.

Originally posted by MichiganSwampBuck
On top of that, in the fall they take the honey stored for winter and feed the bees sugar water that has no nutritional value.

This does seem to bee a large part of the problem, and even worse, some beekeepers have
been feeding them corn syrup, that is laden with "neonics", which leads to death and
also CCD.

I have never looked into it ( farming wild bees such as bumblebees, I know here in the States there is also dwindling populations of many different varities.

reply to post by Superhans


I dont know how natural it would be to starve, without The U.S. as a major grain
exporter, Nuts, and fruit the world would be in a world of hurt.

Besides, California has been farming this monoculture way for decades,
over 50 and never had this problem. The orchards work just fine,
and produce an abundance, its the pesticides.

reply to post by Raud


Yes, I have seen them, and they are beautiful! They are wonderful orchards
that produce an abundance of nuts for the entire world.

California has been the bread basket of the world.

The problem is not the orchards, its the unsustainable use of pesticides,
and GMO corn that is in everything and is laden with pesticides.

Originally posted by burntheships
reply to post by Tardacus

 

Hopefully you would be ok, do you have any bees buzzing around?
Plant some clover, last year I had some around as peripheral weeds,
let them grow and I had bees!

Does the clover help the bee's in some way? I was thinking of adding some some anti-fungal weeds/plants that flower, which could perhaps help the health of the bee's. Maybe even Nano silver powder sprinkled over the hive might help.

Originally posted by relocator
It drives me crazy that more people aren't concerned about the bee population and doing something about it...Like stopping them from using Pesticides that kill the bees. As well as raising more bees. We're next...and currently have no clue.

Monsanto, the massive biotechnology company being blamed for contributing to the dwindling bee population, has bought up one of the leading bee collapse research organizations, Beelogics.

Read more: Source

Talk about Unethical conflict of interest. Research firm proves that your product's pollute or cause disaster to wildlife, then just silence them by buying them out. How is this company not in Jail?

They are crooks, unethical, corrupt, it just sickens my stomach.

reply to post by dominicus


Clover is a good source of flowers, and it grows like a weed. There are many varieties,
mine continually came up naturally on its own. The bees love it, the flowers open
early in the a.m. and the bees swarm it, collecting pollen.

I dont know about the nano silver? Probably not necessary, just dont use corn syrup.
Lavender is also great, it flowers long and is deer resistant.