PD Editorial: Plan Bee to save the pollinators

Farmers and scientists have watched with alarm as honeybee colonies died off in recent years.

Bees are pollinators, bringing color to backyard gardens and tending crops that feed the nation - almonds, avocados, apples, peaches, plums, pears, blueberries, strawberries, the list goes on.

What’s causing the die-off of these tiny agricultural laborers? That’s still a something of a mystery, even a source of controversy, with theories including parasitic mites that attack honeybees, widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides, climate change and loss of habitat and natural sources of nectar.

There’s no mystery about the implications if this alarming trend continues.

Insect pollination enables the production of at least 90 commercially grown cops in North America, according to the Obama administration, with honeybees contributing $15 billion of economic value in the United States each year.

No state relies more on honeybees than California, the nation’s leading producer of agricultural products. The almond industry alone spends more than $290 million on pollination services, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Over the past decade, however, beekeepers have lost colonies at about double historical rates and well above the 18.7 percent rate that’s considered economically sustainable. This past winter saw losses of 23.1 percent, according to a survey of 6,000 commercial beekeepers conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership, a consortium of research laboratories and universities.

While that’s a slight improvement over the previous winter, the same survey found a steep increase in year-over-year losses: 42.1 percent for the 12-month period ending in April, compared to 32.3 percent in 2013-14. The annual loss was the second highest since the surveys began in 2010, sharpening concerns about bee colonies dying off during traditionally less stressful summer months.

“If beekeepers are going to meet the growing demand for pollination services, researchers need to find better answers to the host of stresses that lead to both winter and summer colony losses,” said Jeff Pettis, a senior entomologist at the USDA’s bee research lab in Beltsville, Md.

Last week, President Barack Obama offered a plan to expand breeding and feeding grounds for bees and other pollinators, including monarch butterflies, another species suffering sharp declines. Obama also directed the Environmental Protection Agency to re-evaluate the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on honeybees. The agency has restricted their use around bee colonies, but, unlike the European Union, it hasn’t enacted a moratorium.

The goal is to reduce wintertime colony losses to no more than 15 percent within a decade by restoring or enhancing 7 million acres of land - forests, landscaping along highways and in commercial areas, even the White House lawn - as habitat for pollinators.

It’s a cautious, science-based approach that deserves funding to expedite research and public cooperation in maintaining gardens and other spaces where bees and butterflies can thrive. Otherwise, some of our favorite foods may start disappearing from supermarket shelves and kitchen tables.