Survey Shows Better Results For Pollinators, But Losses Remain Significant
May 19, 2014 A yearly survey of beekeepers, released May 15, shows fewer colony losses occurred in the U.S. over the winter of 2013-2014 than in recent years, but beekeepers say losses remain higher than the level that they consider to be sustainable. According to survey results, total losses of managed honey bee colonies from all causes were 23.2% nationwide. That number is above the 18.9% level of loss that beekeepers say is acceptable for their economic sustainability, but is a marked improvement over the 30.5% loss reported for the winter of 2012-2013, and over the eight-year average loss of 29.6%.
More than three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants rely on pollinators, such as bees, to reproduce, meaning pollinators help produce one out of every three bites of food Americans eat.
“Pollinators, such as bees, birds, and other insects are essential partners for farmers and ranchers and help produce much of our food supply. Healthy pollinator populations are critical to the continued economic well-being of agricultural producers,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “While we’re glad to see improvement this year, losses are still too high and there is still much more work to be done to stabilize bee populations.”
There is no way to tell why the bees did better this year, according to both Pettis and Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a University of Maryland assistant professor who is the leader of the survey and director of the Bee Informed Partnership. Although the survey, conducted by USDA and the University of Maryland Bee Informed Partnership shows improvement, this year, almost two-thirds of the beekeepers responding reported losses greater than the 18.9% threshold.
“Yearly fluctuations in the rate of losses like these only demonstrate how complicated the whole issue of honey bee heath has become, with factors such as viruses and other pathogens, parasites like varroa mites, problems of nutrition from lack of diversity in pollen sources, and even sublethal effects of pesticides combining to weaken and kill bee colonies,” said Jeff Pettis, co-author of the survey and research leader of the Agricultural Research Service Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, MD.
The winter losses survey covers the period from October 2013 through April 2014. About 7,200 beekeepers responded to the voluntary survey.
A complete analysis of the bee survey data will be published later this year. The summary of the analysis is at http://beeinformed.org/results-categories/winter-loss-2013-2014/.
Source: USDA news release
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