Honeybee decline in Indiana threatens crop pollination
LOGANSPORT, Ind. (AP) - Before Doug Hoffman started a honeybee farm in Pulaski County about 10 years ago, he grew apple trees.
"I had apple trees and I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't raise apples," he said. "And so a fella came along and said, 'Hey, you need honeybees.' And that next year changed everything. I realized what it did and I had apples for the first time."
Hoffman doesn't grow apple trees anymore, but he does continue to run what became Apple Blossom Honey Farm, joining a multi-billion-dollar industry known as pollination that agriculture relies on for successful crops.
A lot has changed since Hoffman turned to raising bees a decade ago. The insects are just as good at pollinating crops, but he's losing more and more of them each year. Similar losses are being reported across the state and country, threatening not only the bees, but the agriculture they're necessary for.
BEE'S KNEES
"I've always been fascinated by them," Hoffman said. "You take a colony of bees - they could kill you - and yet man still wants to work with them... It's the coolest creature I've ever been around."
What the bees did for Hoffman's apple trees, just like they do for several other kinds of crops, is fly from plant to plant collecting pollen and nectar to feed on and make honey in their hives. In doing so, pollen from reproductive organs of plants sticks to bees' bodies before they head to other plants, where that pollen rubs off and results in the fertilization necessary for ideal fruit development.
"If you don't have adequate pollination, the crop just goes downhill," Hoffman said.
Farmers hire his business for crops in northern and central Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. Hoffman's bees pollinate blueberries, several varieties of squash, melons, pumpkins, gourds, cucumbers and bell peppers. Some crops take a couple weeks while others require several months, he said.
A field needs a minimum of 100 hives placed strategically throughout a field, Hoffman said, adding each hive has between 30,000 to 100,000 bees.
"For adequate pollination, you need to have a bee flying every 10 seconds in three square meters," he said.
BEE-LEAGUERED
Hoffman said he's experienced significant bee losses since starting his business.
"When I first got started about 10 years ago, I was losing about 15 to 25 percent," he said. "Our losses now are closer to 58 percent. Big difference."
Insecticides are responsible for the bulk of his bee loss, he continued.
When a honeybee gets poisoned by insecticide, they'll often make it back to the hive but die at the entrance, Hoffman said.
"You'll have piles of dead bees, just piles of them," he said.
When that happens, he'll take samples, observe them through a microscope and send them to a laboratory in Maryland, being sure to document everything as he goes.
If there's evidence of insecticide, he'll consult with a state chemist on how to proceed.
The culprit is often drift, or the unintentional diffusion of insecticides, Hoffman said.
"A farmer can hit you once with insecticide and drift and they get a slap on the hand," he continued. "The second time can be a severe fine and I don't mean a few thousand dollars, I mean it can be tens of thousands. A third time, they can actually prosecute them."
Honeybees are on the decline across the state and country as well. There were 6,500 honeybee colonies in Indiana as of Jan. 1, 2016, reflecting a 28 percent drop from the year prior, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The news release states there were 2.59 million honeybee colonies in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2016, reflecting an 8 percent drop from last year.
The USDA attributed a significant amount of Indiana's honeybee loss to varroa mites - parasites that infect the bees with disease.
Varroa mites were reported at more than 17 percent of honeybee colonies during the first quarter of 2016 and more than 20 percent during the first quarter of 2015, according to the news release.
Hoffman said he'll run into varroa mites from time to time, adding the parasites will force the bees to become ill and have deformed wings, keeping them from food.
The mites are controllable, however. Setting a bar of formic acid on top of a hive will drive them out without affecting the bees, he continued.
"It's something you have to stay on top of," he said.
STRIKING A BALANCE
Standing among the hives of honeybees across the field from his shop, Hoffman reflected on the relationship between farmers, their consumers and the bees that help their crops flourish.
"The farmer's got to make a living, he's got to," Hoffman said as the bees buzzed around him. "We all eat from what the farmer gives us and what the bees give the farmer also gives it that chain reaction."
Hoffman also realizes insecticides seem to be just as important to agriculture, however, going on to suggest that that could be where the solution lies.
"If there is a balance of chemical companies getting together and saying, 'Let's protect the bee, let's use more bee-friendly products,' then we wouldn't see these problems..." he said.
___
Source: (Logansport) Pharos-Tribune, http://bit.ly/1UoCHJ9
___
Information from: Pharos-Tribune, http://www.pharostribune.com