Update On Honey Bee Colony Collapse -- A North Dakota Story -- May 3, 2015

Updates

July 27, 2015: From Carpe Diem: US honeybee-colony numbers are now at a 20-year high and US honey producton is at a 10-year high with a 19% increase in production last year. 

July 27, 2015: honey update from USDA, March 20, 2015, data points:

• 2014: US honey production up almost 20% over 2013
• 2014: total colonies up 4 percent over 2013
• 2014: honey prices set a record high in 2014, up 1% from 2013

North Dakota led the nation in number of producing colonies: 480

• California: 330
• South Dakota: 265
• Florida: 220 
• Montana: 159

North Dakota trounces all other states in honey production: 33 million lbs

• Montana: 15 million lbs
• Florida: 13 million lbs
• California: 11 million lbs
• Minnesota: 8 million lbs
• Texas: 6 million lbs

This explains the "Montana" phenomenon: Colonies which produced honey in more than one State were counted in each State where the honey was produced. Therefore, at the United States level yield per colony may be understated, but total production would not be impacted.

July 25, 2015: wind farms may be responsible for loss of bees. 

Since vast areas are within affective range of low frequency sound levels emitted by wind turbines, it becomes clear that there is a connection between low frequency sound produced by wind turbines and the disappearance of honeybees. The areas with the most disappearances of honeybees directly correspond with that of operating wind farms.

California is second, behind North Dakota for honeybee losses and first in wind farm operations, within range of areas where honeybee colonies are located. As of 2007, most North Dakota wind farms were concentrated within a small area in the southeastern portion of the state. Since then, wind farms have spread to many other sections of the state, and the resulting losses of honeybees will most likely increase as well.

Original Post

 

Unfortunately I have not been able to find the link on the internet of a great article in this month's (May's) issue of The National Geographic.

It's by Charles C. Mann, "The Quest for a Superbee."

On page 94 of that issue, there is a great graphic of "bees on the move." North Dakota leads the country -- by a wide margin -- in pollinated acres:

• North Dakota: 2.3 million acres
• California: 1.7 million acres
• Florida: 617,000 acres

Ranked by density, the distinction and the margin is even greater. North Dakota is "alone" in its own division, at the top of the list, at 33 acres of pollinated crops per square mile.

In the second division (6 to 11 acres per square mile) (note the drop from 33 acres / square mile in the top division):

• California (almonds)
• Florida (grapefruit)
• South Dakota (sunflowers)

In the third divisions, hardly worth mentioning, at 1 to 5 acres per square mile, include:

• Kansas (sunflowers)
• Oklahoma (canola)
• Michigan (apples)
• Washington state (apples)
• New York "ban fracking" State (apples)
• Maine (blueberries)
• Massachusetts (cranberries)
• Delaware (melons)
• New Jersey (melons)

Several states show a loss of bee colonies of more than 50%, including: Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Vermont. 

The article starts with history of the current superstar, the Buckfast bee, a superbee. A monk, Brother Adam, was a 16-year-old novice at the Buckfast Abbey in southwest England, in 1915, just after perhaps the worst catastrophe of bee die-off in history. He devoted his life to developing the superbee, the Buckfast bee, which by the 1980s were sold across the world.

Brother Adam, between 1950 and 1980, had collected honey bee queens from around the world, to include: "the hardworking bees of Turkey, the hyper-diverse bees of Crete, the isolated bees of Sahara oases, the deep black bees of Morocco, the tiny orange bees of the Nile, the supposedly placed beeds of Mount Kilimanjaro. He took his exotic menagerie to a remote station in the moors, miles from other bees with their unwanted genes ... and created the Buckfast bee -- a superbee, as it was quickly dubbed. Tan-colored and robust, it was reluctant to sting, zealously productive, and resistant to what come to be called Isle of Wight disease (a virus)."

For his efforts, Brother Adam "was removed from his post. Buckfast's abbot, convinced that Brother Adam's growing fame conflicted with his vocation, removed him from his post. Brother Adam died, heartbroken, in 1996."

That Buckfast abbot sounds like he should join ISIS. He would fit right in.

It's a great article. NoDaks might want to buy this month's NatGeo just for this article.

By the way, even better news. The current great bee die-off was not blamed on global warming. Although researchers try to pin the current colony collapse with much human activity (such as habitat loss and chemicals), the fact remains, it is likely mostly due to the "varroa mite," Varroa destructor.

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By the way, just the other day I posted a story on a new plant that farmers will begin planting in North Dakota, one that honeybees love. This story just keeps getting better and better.

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Another story related to the honeybee story, from The Dickinson Press:

Giants Snacks--a family-owned company born from the idea that, when it comes to sunflower seeds, bigger is better--is now two decades old and still growing.

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That growth is fueled by the company's willingness to try new things, like when it rolled out its kettle-roasted line of roasted, in-the-shell sunflower seeds a few years back.

When it became clear no one was going to market the larger seeds, Schuler said they decided to put them in a bag and call them Giants.

It took time, but the brand gained a following. By 2004, Giants was the official sunflower seed supplier to the Minnesota Twins, a triumph credited to Jason Schuler, Jay Schuler's son and vice president of sales at Giants.

Today, Giants also has an official partnership with the Colorado Rockies, and Giants seeds are consumed in the dugouts of many major league ballparks.