A Big Ball of Wax

By Pam Smith
DTN Progressive Farmer Crops Technology Editor

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. (DTN) -- An estimated one of every three food bites we take depends on insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees.

Yet, commercial agriculture practices have also been one of the main targets as researchers work to pick apart the puzzle of honey bee death and decline. Pesticides and lack of foraging areas for bees are thought to be part of the reason U.S. beekeepers have endured an average of 32% winter colony losses every year since 2006.

The plight of the honey bee has captured national attention and put "big ag" in the crosshairs of the controversy.

This week, approximately 100 members of the bee community -- beekeepers, academics, government agencies and agricultural industry -- attended the Honey Bee Health Summit, a three-day event hosted by Project Aphis m. (PAm) (www.projectapism.org/) and Monsanto's Honey Bee Advisory Council. The National Cotton Council was the only farm group to send a representative as it works on pilot programs to help beekeepers and growers work better together.

For Monsanto, who uses seed treatments in a big way, the conference represented a landmark effort. The meeting brought together beekeepers and other critics to the so-called "lair," but representatives from Bayer CropScience and Syngenta also joined in. Each of these companies has programs in place to address pollinator sustainability. Bayer and Syngenta manufacture Poncho and Cruiser, the neonicotinoid-based products most often implicated when current pesticide products are discussed.

In 2011, Monsanto purchased an Israel-based company called Beeologics (www.beeologics.com/). As part of their BioDirect technology efforts, the plans are to develop a line of products to specifically address the long-term well-being of bees. The bulk of this work focuses use of Rnai technology that uses the method of silencing genes. Monsanto has also partnered with PAm to educate landowners in California about the value of planting honey bee forage.

Some of the points gathered during the event:

-- Bees are in trouble. It's real.

-- Varroa mite is the elephant in the hive. Think of it as a tick-like creature that sucks the life out of the bee. Scientists say that one Varroa mite on a bee would feel like the equivalent of a human carrying around a softball-size tick.

-- Varroa mites also lead to viruses that add to the overall health of the hive.

-- Varroa is hard to kill. How do you kill an insect on an insect?

-- There's a decline of good foraging opportunities for bees. Bees will forage on corn and soybean pollen, but they like it about as much as kids like Brussels sprouts. Massive acres of corn have created a desert for bees.

-- North Dakota, the state where most bees go to rest and recover after pollinating almonds and other crops, is now overcrowded with bees. At the same time, the landscape has changed with the loss of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres and more corn and soybean planting.

-- Pesticides are a factor, but not the only factor. Efforts are being made to coat seeds with better stickers to avoid the dust-off issue during planting, but growers still need to use best management practices.

-- All of these factors combine to stress the hive. When a bee gets stressed, it leaves the hive so as to not jeopardize the colony. It doesn't take very many of these absences before worker bees turn into foraging bees and the whole social order gets disturbed. Eventually, whole hives disappear.

What farmers/ranchers need to know and consider:

-- Agriculture, while perhaps not totally to blame, needs to join the discussion. Minnesota adopted pollinator habitat legislation this spring. The European Union (EU) has just enacted a two-year ban on the use of neonicotinoid-based insecticides due to concerns about bee deaths. Virtually every corn seed planted in the U.S. and many of the soybeans planted in the U.S. are treated with Poncho or Cruiser plus a cocktail of fungicides.

-- Just because most farmers don't keep bees or bump up against an apiary doesn't mean pollinators aren't around. Honey bees forage three to five miles from the hive and that adds up to a radius of nearly 80 square miles. Native pollinators are also important.

-- Farmers who use talc to help during planting need to be especially careful. Talc that has mixed with seed treatment can in some cases dust off and contaminate flowering plants and trees.

-- Farmers should be responsible when cleaning planters and disposing of treated seed.

-- Roadsides and waterways are being considered as potential spots for providing more foraging habitat.

-- Bees may seem small, but the public loves them and they work for a noble cause. If all segments compromise and work together on the issue, the outcome is likely to be sweeter than the sting that could come if the problem is ignored.

Pamela Smith can be reached at pam.smith@telventdtn.com

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