Bee Blight

Bees have been dying at alarming rates for a decade. That makes it more expensive to produce the many crops that depend on them for pollination. Dismay over their demise transcends economics: People have cherished bees since antiquity, celebrating them in poetry, song and religious texts. Their recent woes have been blamed on various culprits, including parasites, disease and poor nutrition — all of which defy easy solution. A fourth factor, chemicals, is controversially but increasingly fingered too, leading some countries to ban pesticides called neonicotinoids.

While winter has always been hard on bees, U.S. beekeepers since 2006-2007 have reported losing an average of 28 percent of their bees to death or disappearance during the coldest season. Earlier surveys don’t exist, but beekeepers estimate that the previous rate was 15 percent, which was considered normal. Winter losses have been similarly elevated in Russia and even higher in Sweden and Germany. Abnormally high death rates require beekeepers to rapidly rebuild their colonies and charge farmers more to rent bees. Wild bees are also under stress; 9 percent of bee species in Europe are threatened, while the U.S. has listed eight species as endangered since late 2016. Recent studies have shown that when tested at the levels farmers use, neonicotinoids increase deaths of bees in the wild. As for the effect on colonies managed by beekeepers, studies have drawn conflicting conclusions. The European Union in 2013 issued a moratorium on the use of three neonicotinoids on flowering crops and in 2018 approved extending the ban to all outdoor use. Agencies in Canada and the U.S. are studying the risks of the pesticides.