The Bees Are Disappearing Again

'Honeybee colonies are under siege across much of North America...' reported the New York Times last week. [Alternate URL here.] Last winter beekeepers across America 'began reporting massive beehive collapses. More than half of the roughly 2.8 million colonies collapsed, costing the industry about $600 million in economic losses...'

America's Department of Agriculture says 'sublethal exposure' to pesticides remains one of the biggest factors threatening honeybees, according to the article — but it's one of several threats. 'Parasites, loss of habitat, climate change and pesticides threaten to wipe out as much as 70% or more of the nation's honeybee colonies this year, potentially the most devastating loss that the nation has ever seen.'

Some years are worse than others, but there has been a steady decline over time. Scientists have named the phenomenon colony collapse disorder: Bees simply disappear after they fly out to forage for pollen and nectar. Illness disables their radar, preventing them from finding their way home. The queen and her brood, if they survive, remain defenseless.

The precise causes remain unknown.
Bee colonies have become even more vulnerable because of the increase in extreme weather conditions, including droughts, heat waves, monster hurricanes, explosive wildfires and floods that have damaged or destroyed the bees and the vegetation they pollinate. If that isn't bad enough, parasites — and other creatures researchers refer to as 'biotic' threats that prey on bees — proliferate when there is damage to ecosystems.

All that means that the U.S. beekeeping industry has contracted by about 2.9% over the past five years, according to data collected by IBISWorld, a research firm. Annual loss rates have been increasing among all beekeepers over the past decade with the most significant colony collapses in commercial operations happening during the past five years.


The article notes that 'compounding the troubles for the bee industry are recent federal cuts' proposed by DOGE to America's Department of Agriculture, 'where researchers were studying ways to protect the nation's honeybees.' And while federal policies like tariffs could make farming more expensive, 'Beekeepers also often depend on immigrants to manage their hives and to help produce commercial honey...'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.