Take this as at least one good thing to come of the economic meltdown: The Honeybees are back.
In recent years, however, there has been alarm over possible shortages of honeybees and scary stories of beekeepers finding that 30-50% of their charges have vanished over the winter. It is called colony collapse disorder (CCD), and its cause remains a mystery.
Add to this worries about long-term falls in the populations of other pollinators, such as butterflies and bats, and the result is a growing impression of a threat to nature’s ability to supply enough nectar-loving animals to service mankind’s crops. This year, however, the story has developed a twist. In California the shortage of bees has been replaced by a glut.
….The suggestion is that poor nutrition has weakened the bees’ immune systems, making them more vulnerable to viruses and other parasites. Feeding bees supplements, rather than relying on their ability to forage in the wild, costs time and money. Many beekeepers therefore try to avoid it. Anecdote suggests, however, that those who do fork out find their colonies are far more resistant to CCD.
This year’s Californian bee glut, then, has been caused by a mixture of rising supply meeting falling demand. The price of almonds dropped by 30% between August and December last year, as people had less money in their pockets. That has caused growers to cut costs, and therefore hire fewer hives.
It appears the big mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder was the ordinary. Starving and overworked creatures aren’t healthy. The bees, too, are getting a well-needed rest.
One more bee joke and it’s over.
clearly Obama is to blame for this new bee scurge. we almost had them eradicated then boom!!! the hive mentality rears its fuzzy socialist head. you won this round commie bees, but your honey is bitter.
So the bees were dying because their employers (the bee-keepers) refused to pay to meet their basic health needs, insisting that they would be fine fending for themselves in the wild? If true, this story is just too fucking perfect.
Starving and overworked creatures aren’t healthy? fuck you peta scum dont you tell me not to starve my animals
Isn’t there any way to at least to blame Bush and global warming?
Or … due to the high cost of gasoline and diesel, the bee firms shipped them less and they were less exposed to toxins and diseases …
Look, we really don’t know why they got sick and died.
And if Comrades and fellow travelers like Republican Reichsfuhrer John Boehner had their way, we never will know, because those aren’t the earmarks that he added. And he added quite a few (more than anyone else in Congress).
We need our bees!
Bees? GOB’s not on board.
oh yeah, and whats with all that queen stuff? i suspect they may be part of the homoseks agenda too. grrr, those commie gay bees really chafe my ass over and over.
@Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand:
Exactly. It was too delicious. Go and read TFA to which I linked and from which I quoted.
In typical Economist fashion, it continues:
“And if the nutrition and disease theory is correct, next year’s lower contract prices may see beekeepers cutting back on supplemental feeding, and a resurgence of CCD.”
Beekeepers, having accidentally helped their broods, are likely to have ‘Chicago Tea parties’ of their own shortly. Huzzah supply and demand.
Isn’t the poor nutrition caused by monocultures of crops that bees are shipped to? They don’t get enough variety, therefore they don’t get enough nutrients. Seems the problem is our unsustainable practices in growing and distributing food, rather than farmers not forking out enough cash to give bees supplements.
@5
With the long and I mean looonnnngggg laundry list of things that bush fucked up and screwed us on, there is no need to make anything up for the list. But thank for playing.
Well, maybe the bees can’t forage in the wild cuz there’s nothing to eat: http://tinyurl.com/bau79v
“TATE: As far as pollination is concerned we have probably an overage of colonies only because California is having to shut down many, many orchards.
“That is Jerry Tate of Tate’s Honey Farm. California is having a major issue with a lack of water and is seeing many orchards being shut down.”
@4: how quaint! It even attempts humor… How can I get me one a’ dem office drones?
I thought you meant the singing group from Gilligan’s Island…