Honey bee populations have fallen drastically over the past few years and now measures are needed to save honey bees populations from falling. Honey bees are crucial in pollinating fruits and vegetables, and according to the USDA, the bees are responsible for providing pollination services that are worth $15 billion every year.
Without the honey bee, we would have far fewer crops and therefore less food to feed everyone, which makes the mission to save honey bees a vital one. The problem is that it isn’t known the exact reason the honey bees are dying. Some scientists who travel to areas to study the honey bees’ populations are concerned that the collapsing bee populations are a sign that something else is wrong with the environment that could cause even more issues in the future.
Pesticide Use Needs To Be Limited to Save Honey Bees
One of the thoughts for the drastic decrease in the number of honey bees is the use of pesticides. The US has put together a White House task force consisting of about a dozen agencies of the federal government that concluded that there is a need to limit pesticide use so that the honey bees can have a better chance of survival.
There are other things causing the loss of honey bees as well, according to those who travel to do testing and research on the problem. One of these is the loss and destruction of the bees’ natural habitat. Because of this, the task force calls for a plan to restore about seven million acres of area for bee habitat over the next five years to help save honey bees.
Some of the groups studying the honeybee death problem are the Bee Informed Partnership Survey, the Apiary Inspectors of America, as well as the US Branch of Agriculture. These three organizations have done a recent study together that showed that more than 40 percent of the bees in colonies died in the last year, with Colorado being one of the worst hit states, losing almost 40 percent of their commercial bee colonies.
Colony Collapse Disorder Kills Honey bees Too
Another problem is Colony Collapse Disorder that is killing the honey bees off. Some of this could also be due to a mite that has been attacking the honey bees in the past few years, as well. The bottom line is that we need a plan to save honey bees that travel around pollinating our crops, as well as giving us delicious, sweet honey, or soon there may be no more bees, and also fewer crops to feed the world. The agricultural industries that rely heavily (up to 90%) on bees for pollination are melons, cranberries, broccoli and blueberries. Almond growers rely 100% on bee pollination.
