ColumnIn the face of colony collapse disorder, can urban beekeeping projects help us save bees, and our food system?

Did you know that 70 out of the top 100 food crops that humans consume — which are responsible for supplying about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition — are pollinated by bees? As Greenpeace puts it, “You have a bee to thank for every one in three bites of food you eat.” This is one of the main reasons that people are so concerned about the dwindling numbers of honeybees.

Bee populations are decreasing at an alarmingly high rate. Because of pesticides and habitat loss, in the United States alone, since 1962, the number of bees per hectare has gone down by 90 percent for these important crops.

The question is: what do we do? Banning dangerous pesticides is an essential part of the solution, but beyond signing petitions, for the most of us, that’s something that’s out of our control. What is in our control? Many people have taken to beekeeping.

Nowadays, there are urban beekeeping projects popping up from Hong Kong to Stockholm to Tokyo. And it’s not just bees that they are promoting; often these projects incorporate unique methods of doing business that bring both a social and environmental good. For example, in Seattle, the Urban Bee Co. is the nation’s first bicycle-centered honey producer, and all its honey deliveries are pedal-powered. Not to mention that honey is an incredibly local crop, and for people looking to reduce their food miles, honey is a way to do just that.

It has been argued that urban beekeeping is actually detrimental to bee populations, as in many areas, there has been a loss of flowers and habitat. This is often on account of urbanization, which removes both potential nesting sites for bees, as well as their food sources, making pairing beekeeping projects with planting projects essential. And that means greening cities, providing bees with what they lack: food. A great example is Pollinator Passasjen, a Norwegian initiative to encourage people to plant bee-friendly plants, like flowers, as well as insect hotels.

Unfortunately, the reality is that if bees keep dying at the current rate, urban hives come far under being a replacement for the commercial variety. But that doesn’t mean we should forget about urban beekeeping projects. On the contrary, while they may make a small impact on the larger agricultural scale, on the smaller, more local scale there’s a lot of potential, because while it may seem like bees would prefer a more rural, bucolic setting for their pollinating action, research has actually shown not only higher survival rates in urban bees versus rural bees, but also high yields of honey.

The success of bees in urban areas does point to the fact that in these areas, in conjunction with more green roofs and urban gardens, beekeeping projects might just be an essential part of the solution for addressing food security, by helping to increase local food production.

But when we are thinking about solutions to a more sustainable world of food production, it also comes down to one essential thing: dealing with toxic pesticides that are causing these problems in the first place. This has been highlighted yet again by a recent Harvard Study which concluded that, “The results from this study not only replicate findings from the previous study, but also reinforce the conclusion that the sublethal exposure to neonicotinoids is likely the main culprit for the occurrence of CCD.”

The most heavily used class of insecticides in the U.S., those neonicotinoids aren’t just impacting bee health, many scientists say that they post a threat to human health as well. Designed to target an insect’s nervous system, these pesticides have now been shown that they may have an affect on the human nervous system as well, affecting brain development. That’s alarming given the trace amounts of the pesticides that have been shown to appear in food. In one study done on neonicotinoids in food, 90 percent of honey samples tested detected positive for at least one neonicotinoid, as well as 72 percent of fruits and 45 percent of vegetables.

More research is needed, but paired with the destruction of bee populations, the argument against these pesticides is strong.

So what do we do?

We continue to advocate for more sustainable farming practices. We buy organic. We buy local. We boycott Big Ag. We don’t use pesticides in our own gardens. We support more urban beekeeping projects as well as initiatives that build more habitat and food for bees. We plant more native species. Urban hives may not solve the problem of colony collapse disorder, but it does get more people talking about it, and part of the solution — whatever the problem — comes with creating awareness. And if we want to build a more sustainable food system, we have to do exactly that.

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Mosaic Family

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ExclusiveBreaking news of a mysterious bee death epidemic in SF.

Make a list of the foods you love. Then start crossing out the ones that are pollinated by bees, and imagine never eating them again.

I’d have to say goodbye to avocados, strawberries, squash, almonds, okra, cucumbers, broccoli, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, cantaloupe, beans, peppers, citrus, figs, fennel, and coffee. And it doesn’t stop there. Fully one-third of the foods we eat depend on bees for pollination.

Recent history: Bees are dying all over the place, “colony collapse disorder” enters the national consciousness, a leaked EPA memo points to a particular pesticide, Army researchers enter the fray. In the midst of all of this news, just as it seems scientists might be closer to identifying the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, a new mysterious bee die-off is happening – right now – in San Francisco.

I discovered this entirely by chance when I met a fellow cookbook author named Penni Wisner at a professional gathering. The day we met, she had just learned that the beehive in her Lower Castro San Francisco backyard had collapsed, practically overnight.  As she told the story of how the process unfolded, everyone in the room was swept away by the heartbreaking mystery of the hive’s demise.

Penni’s hive was set up and administered by Robert MacKimmie, whose business, City Bees installs hives in backyards around the city. He’s there to save the bees, but also to market hyper local honey at farmers’ markets around the city. Residents get honey, a vibrant garden full of pollinators, and the distinctive joy of hosting a hive.

When Penni’s bees arrived in June, she was at first a little afraid of being stung. It didn’t take long for her to discover that the bees were gentle good company that greatly improved her quality of life. She described them as a “wonderful, sweet addition to the backyard environment.” Penni found their flight patterns “fascinating” and told us that when she was working in her garden with the bees, she felt “there was something important going on, like I was among an intelligent form of life that I didn’t understand.” Coexisting with the bees gave her a sense of contentment. And the sweet aroma of the brood became a fixture in her life. Turns out that it’s not the scent of honey, but the brood of baby bees that attracts bears.

Penni described the scent as physical, almost primal: “An elixir aroma of sweetness, and intoxication, like a tropical fruit…sexy and floral, but funky, too.”

One day in early December, she noticed an absence of brood aroma coming from the hive. That’s what first tipped her off that there might be a problem with her bees.

It seemed impossible. On November 1^st, Robert had harvested four gallons of honey; and the hive had been buzzing with contentment and life. Up through Thanksgiving, there had been plenty of activity and the hive appeared healthy and vibrant. On December 5^th, when Penni noticed dead bees outside the hive, she contacted Robert. When the two opened the hive on December 15, there were only about 150 bees out of a probable peak population of 20,000. Stunned, they simply sat down in the yard in shocked silence and grief.

After speaking to Penni, I got in touch with Robert to see if he had any ideas about the cause of the massive die-off. He told me, “it seems like a brand new syndrome because massive bee die-offs at the hive are normally explained by parasitic tracheal mite infestations, not normally a problem in this area, or more often, from a pesticide kill based on agricultural exposure. This current combination of symptoms doesn’t fit what beekeepers have experienced before. These were all strong, robust hives that completely collapsed within weeks or a month. The reported losses are citywide, so pesticide exposure doesn’t seem to be a likely culprit, especially in November.”

He’s just put the word out to other beekeepers in the city and has confirmed that at least six beekeepers have collectively experienced 10 hives with this type of collapse during recent months. Other collapses where the bees completely disappear have also become more numerous in recent years. The circumstances of these specific collapses are entirely different from what is typically seen in a Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which all of the bees disappear, leaving only a queen and a few workers.

“There are new, greater challenges to beekeeping in general, and the ability to keep bees alive has been getting worse during recent years. The past month, it’s just plain bad, though other hives have been completely unaffected,” Robert told me.

Researchers from Davis, UCSF, and San Francisco State are currently analyzing the bee DNA to try to pinpoint the cause of this new die-off, though, because the collapsed bees haven’t been continuously monitored, there can be no indicator of what influences may have changed. For now, it’s too soon to tell how widespread it is. It will probably be at least a month before information is available.

In the meantime, outside of this San Francisco crisis, the media has been abuzz (sorry!) with bee news over the past few months. In October, the New York Times reported that a probable cause of CCD was uncovered by entomologists and army researchers working together. The collaborative team used a military-developed software system to uncover a new DNA-based bee virus, which was then linked to a previously known fungus. Tests on hives that had collapsed found both the fungus and virus present in all cases.

Previously, scientists had thought that a pesticide, specifically one called clothianidin, which is manufactured by Bayer’s Crop Science division, was the likeliest cause of CCD. So this new research looked to be a surprise break-through. Nowhere in the research was Bayer’s pesticide clothianidin mentioned. Shortly after the New York Times story was published, Fortune Magazine revealed that the main scientist involved in the army study had received a funding grant from Bayer. Oops!

Even discounting that appearance of conflict of interest, the army study was hardly conclusive. The virus/fungus combo being present in all collapsed hives doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the only cause of the die off. Another substance could be weakening the bees and making them more susceptible to both. In fact, neonicotinoids, the class of pesticides to which clothianidin belongs, can have cumulative effects on insects that include immune system disruptions and neurobehavioral problems.

On the heels of this news, a leaked EPA memo emerged showing that the core scientific study upon which EPA granted Bayer the conditional registration of clothianidin was deeply flawed, and EPA knew it.

The Bayer-designed study had three major problems: It was conducted on the wrong crop, it was conducted for an insufficient amount of time, and the test fields and control fields were not properly separated. According to this article in Fast Company, the pesticide, though used on other crops, is most commonly used to pretreat corn seeds. MacKimmie told me that concerned parties view the Bayer trials as lacking credibility because instead of testing in the US with neonicotinoid tainted pollen from corn which actually impacts bees, the approved trials were in Canada and used canola.

Whatever the causes, bees are dying, our food supply is threatened, and we have the EPA knowingly approving the use of the pesticide that has been shown to harm bees. Meanwhile, a new and mysterious collapse disorder is unfolding in San Francisco.

It’s time to pay attention to the bees. They might be trying to tell us something.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Mike Baird via Flickr

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You’re relaxing in your backyard when you hear that ominous noise: the unmistakable buzz of a swarm of bees. The sight of a writhing mass of wild stinging insects is enough to turn almost anyone into a shrieking horror movie heroine, but whatever you do, don’t harm them! Natural care of feral bees could be a key to overcoming Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

They’ve yet to pinpoint the exact cause, with guesses focusing on everything from tiny mites to pesticide overload, but one thing scientists do know is that we need the bees to pollinate, since a third of our food crops are rapidly disappearing. But treating honeybees with even more chemicals is just fueling the fire, according to one subset of beekeepers.

“We’re “˜Backwards’ because we rely on observation and natural practices rather than pesticides and other chemicals to keep our bees thriving,” write the self-proclaimed Backwards Beekeepers, a group of organic beekeepers in Los Angeles who are determined to help local bee populations thrive.

While CCD has hit commercial bees hard, wild bees seem to be doing just fine – and Backwards Beekeepers believe their health is due to their more natural way of life. The Backwards Beekeepers trap feral swarms of bees, transfer them to new hives and provide organic chemical-free support while allowing nature to do most of the work.

Conventional beekeepers place sheets made of plastic or wax in their hives for their honeybees to build upon, but the problem is, bees aren’t too fond of plastic and the wax is contaminated by chemicals and pesticides. The hexagonal cell pattern on the sheets is often too large, encouraging the growth of oversized bees that may gather more pollen and make more honey, but are also more susceptible to mites and thus require chemical treatment.

The Backwards Beekeepers – made up of Kirk Anderson, Charles Martin Simon and Michael Bush – believe that this just plain unnatural system is adding unnecessary stress to bee populations. Their own system relies on wood strips painted with chemical-free beeswax taken from their own previous harvests.

Simon outlines the 10 Principles of Beekeeping Backwards, explaining that observation, working with nature and above all supporting the health of the bees are the most important things you can remember, adding “Beekeeping is not about honey – it’s not about money – it’s about survival.”

Want to get started as a Backwards Beekeeper? Check out our primer, ‘How to Keep Bees: Basics of Bee Keeping for Beginners‘ and then bone-up on natural beekeeping methods at Beehuman.blogspot.com.

Image: hr.icio

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One-third of our world’s growing fields rely on the European honeybee, the type of bee kept by beekeepers in western countries. But according to a study conducted to solve the mysteries of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) honeybees are dying of infections that are difficult to identify and cure.

Research highlighted in Scientific American finds there are many possible contributing factors but no single culprit in the deaths of colonies. Bees suffering from CCD appear to be infested with multiple pathogens (including a newly discovered virus) and solving the problem may require “taking better care of the environment and making long-term changes to our beekeeping and agricultural practices.”

As I’ve described in past posts on CCD, many of the varieties of super foods and fruits and vegetables we consume –  apples, blueberries, broccoli and almonds – are greatly at risk as they require bees to flourish. The study reports that even before the onslaught of CCD, farmers watched their honeybee populations diminish because of a number of ailments.

While colonies have always collapsed, the drop in 2006 was major. The population was estimated at around 2.4 after the disorder took out colonies in large numbers, reducing the overall population to half of what it was in 1949. The losses got worse in 2007 and 2008. So much attention has been focused on this issue that there even is a website devoted entirely to CCD news, opinions and research.

SciAm says the concern now is not the extinction of our friend the honeybee but rather the disappearance of the skilled bee keeper.

“If beekeepers’ skills and know-how become a rarity as a result, then even if CCD is eventually overcome, nearly 100 of our crops could be left without pollinators and large-scale production of certain crops could become impossible,” states the report. It says we would still have starchy staples like corn, wheat, potatoes and rice, but much of the important and nutritious food we consume today we become “the food of kings.”

Here are a few major points from this important research:

• Millions of beehives worldwide have emptied out as honeybees mysteriously disappear, putting at risk nearly 100 crops that require pollination.
• Research is pointing to a complex disease in which combinations of factors, including farming practices, make bees vulnerable to viruses.
• Taking extra care with hive hygiene seems to aid prevention. And research into antiviral drugs could lead to pharmaceutical solutions.

Image: Kuribo

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