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Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Where’s the Buzz? N.J. Crops Affected by Decline in Honey bee Population

Author:     REBECCA FORAND
Source:     South Jersey Times
Publication Date:     June 29, 2013 at 7:26 AM
 Link: Where’s the Buzz? N.J. Crops Affected by Decline in Honey bee Population
Stephan:   This is the latest on the collapse of the bees. The loss of these little beings is beginning to impact humanity, as this report shows. Part of the problem may be a particular mite. But as I read the literature the overwhelming cause is pesticides and herbicides. Yet still the Obama Administration, its Department of Agriculture, the EPA, even the State Department, are supporting and protecting Monsanto, Dow, and the four other companies who produce and promote these poisons, in their quest for profit. If this continues, in my view, within the next decade we are going to have a world food crisis.

New Jersey’s most popular crops could be in jeopardy because one of the smallest but most important parts of the growing process is in danger.

Honey bees pollinate crops across New Jersey, including blueberries, cantaloupes, cranberries, cucumbers and pumpkins, but parasites and pesticides are decimating the bee population.

About 32 percent of the state’s honey bees died last winter, according to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture citing a trend occurring across the country. On a national level, almost a third of the honey bees also died according to preliminary results of the 2012-2013 winter loss survey conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership.

‘Honey bees are responsible for pollinating about a third of the food humans use. It can severely impact the fruits and vegetables people consume,’ said Tim Schuler, New Jersey’s state apiarist and chief of the state’s bee inspection operation.

A previously undiagnosed condition called colony decline first affected the bee population about 10 years ago. Since, bees were widely thought to have recovered.

‘We still have a lot of problems when we talk about colony decline,

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