Our food supplies may dwindle because of Bees
By raydene
@raydene (9871)
United States
April 24, 2007 3:19pm CST
The bees are disappearring all over America and I just got an agriculture report
from Melborne stating that Austraila is finding the same strange thing.When the
hives are opened totake out the honey they are finding about 1/2 the amount of
honey and most of the adult bees are missing.This may seem like it's not your
problem but think again...If you eat fruit or vegetables be prepared to spend much
higher prices for them...that is if you can get them at all.We have a garden and we
will have to hand pollenate out plants that have blossems or we won't have any
produce.I heard that one apple orchard that had 5 tractor-trailer loads of bees
brought in to establish hives to increase his honey and apple growth says he
doesn't think he could fill enough hived to load up one trailer right now...Pretty
discouraging when he bought the bees last fall...
This is another big blow to the farmers...And if the farmer suffers the price of
food increases.
So we think oh well I'll live on meat...not so fast...What do you feed your animals?
If the bees are gone it will through everything in a slant...
Any thoughts about this?
Do you klnow the status of the honey bees on your country?
4 people like this
10 responses
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
25 Apr 07
I actually did a discussion about this a while ago dealing with how they think Cell phones might be the cause for the bees dying off. They are still investigating it and they don't know anythign for sure. You can read the article though on it here: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
Right now though as of when this article was posted here in the American they have that the West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast. Those really are staggering numbers when you think about it. It's also seeming to spread through Europe and now you pointed out in Australia.
Whatever is causing it they do need to find out what it is. The earth cannot support the human race without the bees. Yes some animals only graze and grass is not dependant upon bees but without vegitables and fruit we would not due well. I know normally this time of year I see a bunch of bees around our blooming hibiscus bushes, so far I've seen one. That makes me wonder. I just hope that whatever the cause is that they find it before we have some major, major trouble.
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
26 Apr 07
Yeah I don't know if there is anything they can do for this year either. I know here I've seen a few tiny bees but nothing of bumble bees or the typical sized bees we normally have. I just hope they find out what the problem is before next year. One year short we'll survive but several years and we can forget about it. Enstien stated that without bees the human race would only have 4 years of life left. That is really scary.
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
25 Apr 07
I don't know if anything can save this year's crops but maybe it will be sorted out by next year..We have lots of orchards all around me and I'm told that the may be hiring after school youth , train them in hand-pollination to assist in saving the apples.I haven't even seen yellow jackets yet...only the bumble bee and only one of those.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
25 Apr 07
There is something killing the bees - I've heard about it. Doing a search I found this info about the beastie killing our bees.
"The pest is the varroa mite, which has been in the United States since 1986, when it first showed up in Florida. But the pace of devastation has increased only during the past year. An entire hive can be wiped out within less than a year as the parasites, colloquially known as "vampire mites," lodge in a hive and begin to reproduce.
"The varroa mites have become resistant to the chemicals we use to kill them," said Loxahatchee beekeeper Mark McCoy."
2 people like this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
25 Apr 07
Oh they are very important.They only sting if they feel threatened..They don't want to sting because most bees die after they do..it is a defensive action only.Think of all the things you like..honey,apples,peaches,pears,tomatoes,peppers,and on and on..
The prices of what's available will be sky high...
xoxo
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
24 Apr 07
wow I never heard that. What is causing the bee shortage? Guess we will not get the killer bees then that were supposed to be migrating to north america.
1 person likes this
@kathy77 (7486)
• Australia
25 Apr 07
Wow Raydene, where did you get this information from I did not know this about my own country in regards to these bees that they are disappearing but upon reading your discussion well I have learnt something today from my wonderful friend Raydene, and I believe that you are right as I do not see the amount of bees in Australia like I used to and I live in Sydney,.
@raydene (9871)
• United States
25 Apr 07
I'm on the Essex County Fair board which means I'm a member of an agriculture society and a member of the NYState Farm Bureau.I get new info daily from their sites and have a friend that works on the Agri-News.She keeps me up on these things.You will have problems with your crops in Astraila also I suspect.
xoxoxo
@mummymo (23706)
•
25 Apr 07
wow - I was just discussing this with Niall last night! Seemingly here in the uk we are seeing the same thing happening and experts have gont to the us to confer with experts over there! I find this a really worrying thing and hope that this is something that can be sorted out before it is too late! Good on you for highlighting this! xx
1 person likes this
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
24 Apr 07
It is a sad thing that we are losing the numbers of bees. Necessary for blooming and therefore food plants we need them desparately. I think our bees are ok for now. No cell towers and perhaps no genetically modified products being grown. I hope it is preventing from getting any worse for all of our sakes.
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
25 Apr 07
Rekkusu,This is a serious matter.It may well effect all of us.I realize you are only joking but this is no joke....If our food supply is limited then we all pay higher prices and those people that can not afford it will be able to buy less so those that are hungry now most likely will starve in the next year.
1 person likes this
@retardedrugrat (4791)
• Canada
25 Apr 07
Wow, this is staggering and frightening!
I hadn't heard of this before, but now I come to think about it, I haven't seen much in the way of bees at all this year so far.
What a way to kill the one thing that our planet needs to survive. I didn't know cell phones could kill bees, and really it's scary.
@northernnorway (25)
• Norway
25 Apr 07
Been reading about this lately and it seem to be happening in Europe too.
There are some speculation that genetically modified plants may behind this because it cause malnutrition.
Some GM plants contain toxins that kill insects and bees of course, doesn't know which plant is toxic and which is not.
Albert Einstein once said "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left".
Sounds a bit worrying to me..
