Collapse of the Bee Population

[agstar77]

Has anyone seen reports of the mysterious collapse of the Bee pop in N.A. and EU? This could have wide implications for all crops depending on pollination. This along with the record low ending stocks in cereal grains, could lead to a food crisis of epic proportions. In other words if you think you have seen the last of high prices , think again. 2008 corn futures have not fallen back like the old crop prices. Someone is betting on a long term uptrend in grain prices. Maybe the future of farming is not as dark as some of us have believed. Maybe this is one of the reasons for SWP's agressive pursuit of AU.

[cottonpicken]

Ive been following it for a while.Spooky stuff.

Einstein said"if all the bees on earth die,humanity would only survive for 4 years.

And yea theres a very bright future in farming.

[parsley]

agstar77,

I read all the comments circulating, but I have to say that my 2006 experience and observations do not yet support the supposition.

I have been very interested in bees and insects throught the years, and because we grow so many specialty crops and herbs abnd spices, I believe that we observe a much wider range of variety of bees/insects than many farms are able to attract.

Last year, I was amazed by the exciting variety of bees and wasps, some of them I have never seen before. They are even in holes in the ground near the gardens! There are wasp nests all over and I have studied their many patterns of construction and not noticed anything unusual.

There seems to abundant varieties of bees that are quite small in size, and novel, others quite colorful; many of them are not the "traditional" wasp or bee, and particularly interesting species in the sainfoin.

They particularly love borage, sainfoin, caraway, coriander, and all the tea herbs.Fields of saifoin are abuzz with them.

We'll see what appears this spring.

Parsley

[agstar77]

Have you read the theories regarding Bt crops and their effect on bees? They seem to believe the greatest death tolls are in areas where Bt's are most used. The theory being . bees weakened by disease are more affected by Bt toxins.

[parsley]

Yes I did.

[wilagro]

For the last two years my tomatoes have had poor and late pollination compared to other years, Also the raspberries had late pollination as well.

These may be localized bee and wasp problems. I hope so. as there is too much riding on their continued essential existence.

[cottonpicken]

Pars,you havent noticed anything unusual except all the new varieties of species?

Thats not unusual?

The other areas of north america(outside your backyard) are reporting a catastrophe in the making.

[parsley]

cott, there has always been a surprising abundance since we went organic! But the last few years, I've noted varieties I've never seen before.

All varieties seemd healthy and thrifty and busy and ignored me, so they were content.

I have actually been interested enough to pin and mount the odd one on styrofoam sheets over the years, and so coincidentally, I've taken a little extra note.

We have bees in our barn walls, and bees in holes around the gardens, and bees in most of the buildings at one time or another during the summer.

One thing that is noteworthy is the size of the bumblebees. I have never seen them stunningly bigger than last year. You sould eat one for breakfast!

Parsley

[parsley]

By the way cott, there are quite a few fields of sainfoin, over 400 acres I would guess, and they are a-buzz, so it's not just the yard of about three acres.

Parsley

[kamichel]

I remember when I grew borage, that crop was crawling with all kinds of insects.
I am not sure as weather the honey bees were really neccessary. I had just as good a crop on fields without the honeybees. Possibly because of the heavy stand. Seemed to be plenty of natural polanation without the bees. Could sure tell where the wild bees were, they had like freeways through the air.