We finish the bees well

[freddau]

Thousands of beehives are transported to California in winter for the pollination of almond trees. A very lucrative activity for American beekeepers, but stressful for insects.

It is the largest migration of workers in the world. By the end of February, nearly three-quarters of the commercial bees in the United States will end up in California almond orchards to do a job that only they can do: collect pollen from the flowers of a tree and place in the flowers of another. Beekeepers will have moved more than 2 semi-trailers loaded with beehives, or, at the very least, 200 billion bees.
"It is the law of supply and demand. That's what explains all this mess, ”comments Brent Woodworth. This beekeeper from North Dakota transported his 3 hives to California. For a month of activity in the orchards, his bees will bring him 700 dollars [520 euros], three times more than ten years ago. An increase which is explained by the extension of the area devoted to almond trees and by the decrease in the quantity of bees available. After California, Woodworth will move his beehives to the state of Washington for the pollination of apple trees, before bringing them home for the honey season.
The significant income from pollination - beehive owners “rent” up to $ 140 per unit - has transformed beekeeping. Until fairly recently, professionals were mainly engaged in the production of honey and hardly moved their bees. Now, thanks to the juicy pollination contracts of almond trees, many of them derive most of their turnover from hiring the work of foragers.
the mobility of the hives weakens the bees
If this itinerant activity pays big dividends to American beekeeping, it has not resulted in an increase in the bee population. In 2005, the number of colonies fell to its lowest level since at least 1939, the year of the first federal statistics. This trend is of great concern to California almond producers, who expect their activity to grow by 30% - to more than 300 hectares - by 000. In 2010, the sale of their harvest brought them 2005 billion dollars, a record amount.
Beekeepers say they are doing their best to grow. But most are already struggling to conserve their bee population. Across the country, hives are infested with exotic mites that feed on larvae and infect the airways of adults. Worse, a mysterious disease has appeared. This is the colony collapse disorder, a disease of which we still know little and which decimates entire colonies.
The mobility of hives is also one of the probable causes of the weakening of insects. First, bee gatherings from across the country facilitate the spread of disease: a parasite transported by a colony from Florida can infect a group from North Dakota. Then transport over long distances stresses the bees. Some die and the survivors, weakened, become vulnerable to disease. Finally, it is absolutely not in their nature to be active at this time of the year. If the workers at Brent Woodworth were not contracted to ensure the pollination of 28 almond plantations, they would currently wait until the end of winter, tightly packed against each other in their hives. The population of a hive fluctuates enormously throughout the year, and this is precisely one of the reasons why tree growers pay the high price: in February, bees are rare.
The rental of colonies - it takes 5 or 6 per hectare - represents about 20% of the operating costs of almond producers. As the area under cultivation continues to increase while the bee population continues to decrease, prices should continue to rise. This is why the sector is actively looking for other solutions. Some bee species, which do not produce honey and therefore are not raised, promise to be good pollinators. Researchers also hope to develop a variety of self-pollinating almond trees, but we are still a long way off.


Jim downing
The Sacramento Bee

[freddau]

After peeled shrimps in Morocco.
The Roses of Kenya

Here come the wandering bees....

[gegyx]

Thank you for the originality of this news.
We are moving bees because populations are declining (pesticides, GMOs, climate change facilitating parasites?)
The observation is made that they are an essential link in the survival of flora and species by causality.
Instead of taking a break, a moratorium in extensive industrial and biochemical bullshit.
We use the resources of these damned insects, endangered, in an unusual technique, which will stress them and surely accelerate their decline, because of parasitic contagion, due to incessant movement.
In case of attack on their colonies, there is always a part which resists and which allows the survival and the propagation of the breed, in a natural process.
But by precipitating things and making them worse, can nature react in time?
All this to increase the business of small, profiteering and unconscious.

At this rate, bees will soon be imported from other countries, not too affected by the Monsanto subsidiaries.
Beekeepers of the world, a huge market awaits you! ..

[I Citro]

Thank you for the originality of this news.
We are moving bees because populations are declining (pesticides, GMOs, climate change facilitating parasites?)
...
At this rate, bees will soon be imported from other countries, not too affected by the Monsanto subsidiaries.
Beekeepers of the world, a huge market awaits you! ..

+1

[jean63]

Bees are threatened in France despite the ban on the Gaucho and Régent CAR the Monsanto and Co. have invented a treatment that is put into seed seeds, which is transmitted to flowers and when bees come to forage ....... .worse for them.

Another subject: less and less meadows with various grasses (monoculture = the risk for making bio-fuels !!)) and in addition the farmers mow their hay too early (for a second cut) ... too bad for the bees.

And the worst part: in the South-West of France, carnivorous hornets coming from Asia in containers probably, devour the bees in full flight (hovering) .. explained in a JT yesterday I think, but I don't arrive more to follow .... in video it was scary in close-up the hornets are 4 times the size of a bee. They make huge nests (like wasps) in the trees.

They are badly crossed the bees and us with ...............

[Former Oceano]

I tried 1 month ago to crush a hornet that had half drowned in the pool and could not fly away. So as not to bite my daughter, I crushed him. Well it is really solid this creature. The exoskeleton is very solid. I understand that it can resist the stings of bees trying to protect the hive.

For fruits, there are indeed the self-fertilizing varieties, otherwise, it will be necessary that the beekeepers are resigned to no longer move their hives, or the arboriculturalists and fruit producers to equip themselves with hives ...

[I Citro]

I tried 1 month ago to crush a hornet that had half drowned in the pool and could not fly away. So as not to bite my daughter, I crushed him. Well it is really solid this creature. The exoskeleton is very solid. I understand that it can resist the stings of bees trying to protect the hive.

For fruits, there are indeed the self-fertilizing varieties, otherwise, it will be necessary that the beekeepers are resigned to no longer move their hives, or the arboriculturalists and fruit producers to equip themselves with hives ...

Hornets are very tough and aggressive critters. This year I do not have too much in my fig tree, yet it is the season ... Friday coming back from school, I saw 2 fighting, it is common but the show is still great violence.

Our era has pushed the principle of specialization to its peak.
My grandfather was a "farmer" (we didn't say farmer, then).
He practiced polyculture, raising poultry, rabbits, pigs, cows, ... bees.
He was autonomous. Then the Marshall Plan tractors arrived to replace the oxen and draft horses that supplied the manure. Chemical fertilizers became widespread, then hybrid seeds ... which must be bought back every year.
I stop there, all to say that he knew how to do everything to keep his ecosystem almost self-sufficient.
But that did not relate to the state, bankers, industrialists, oil companies ...

Today we no longer teach a farmer to care for bees, we teach him management!
My grandfather only had the study certificate but was an excellent manager!

[bham]

Chemical fertilizers became widespread, then hybrid seeds ... which must be bought back every year.
I stop there, all to say that he knew how to do everything to keep his ecosystem almost self-sufficient.
But that did not relate to the state, bankers, industrialists, oil companies ...
Today we no longer teach a farmer to care for bees, we teach him management!
My grandfather only had the study certificate but was an excellent manager!

Well seen citro!

Speaking of finishing the bees, I recommend watching this clip titled "The Pollen of Discord", explaining the likely impact of GM plants (which self-produce a pesticide) on bees: http://blip.tv/file/347281

[jean63]

Our era has pushed the principle of specialization to its peak.
My grandfather was a "farmer" (we didn't say farmer, then).
He practiced polyculture, raising poultry, rabbits, pigs, cows, ... bees.
He was autonomous. Then the Marshall Plan tractors arrived to replace the oxen and draft horses that supplied the manure. Chemical fertilizers became widespread, then hybrid seeds ... which must be bought back every year.
I stop there, all to say that he knew how to do everything to keep his ecosystem almost self-sufficient.
But that did not relate to the state, bankers, industrialists, oil companies ...

Today we no longer teach a farmer to care for bees, we teach him management!
My grandfather only had the study certificate but was an excellent manager!

My mother and my father lived their youth thus (before and during war 39-45) practically in autarky each one with the local means in Cantal, in an isolated village and a mill respectively.

I recently heard on local radio Auvergnate a recalcitrant peasant (very) who always (and draws) teams of oxen and has no tractor or modern agricultural machinery ... and he still lives without borrowing !!! He will talk about his way of training the oxen to pull tanks and plows in the local tourist festivals ... the young people of today take him for a Martian and do not believe that it could exist one day! When the less young they ask totally stupid questions.

How long can we get away from Mother Nature without paying the consequences?

[I Citro]

I recently heard on local radio Auvergnate a recalcitrant peasant (very) who always (and draws) teams of oxen and has no tractor or modern agricultural machinery ... and he still lives without borrowing !!! He will talk about his way of training the oxen to pull tanks and plows in the local tourist festivals ... the young people of today take him for a Martian and do not believe that it could exist one day! When the less young they ask totally stupid questions.

How long can we get away from Mother Nature without paying the consequences?

This is an alter-peasant, not of those who commit suicide (no GMO culture, no credits) ...

If this species could reproduce faster than the Enarques ... I am thinking for example of those (M. Fabius) who say about the Pyrenean bear that we should have reintroduced a herbivorous bear instead of a carnivorous species ... The only herbivorous "bear" that exists is called PANDA and its diet, bamboo is easily found in the Pyrenees ...
(its classification among the Ursidae is very controversial because it has only 90% of the genetic heritage of bears, by comparison the human species has 95% of its genetic heritage in common with bonobo monkeys)