From: Faquier Times
Six years ago, Diane Graves decided to expand her Catlett-based farm business at her 180-acre Moonraker Stable. She boards horses, nurtures fruit trees and grows vegetables and, she said, “I wanted to do something to pollinate the fruit trees.”
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But it’s not all pretty flowers, beguiling bees and gooey, sweet honey in this aspect of agriculture. A varmint lurks and wreaks havoc on the hives. It’s called the Varroa destructor, a blood-sucking mite that carries a lethal virus. “It was first identified in 1987 in Wisconsin,” Graves said, adding it eventually found its way here. “It’s the worst parasite to have.”
January 26, 2017
From: Bee Culture
Found in Translation: What’s Going On At The Beltsville Bee Lab?
By: Jay Evans
January 25, 2017
From: Genetic Literacy Project
David Zaruk
The European Union’s ban of three neonicotinoid insecticides (aimed at saving honeybees) was developed as a logical consequence of the European Food Safety Authority’s draft bee guidance document. This document, which introduced new guidelines for what could be considered as acceptable bee research field trial, set standards that, in my opinion, were so high that none of the existing bee field research could be accepted into the risk assessment process nor would any future trials ever meet the standards. In an exchange between myself and EFSA, it appears to me that the EU Authority was deceived into accepting the 2013 document under the following assumptions:
January 24, 2017
From: Nursery Management
Best management practices (BMPs) are intended to inform the horticulture industry about how to minimize negative impacts on the environment.
Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio — January 19, 2017 — The Horticultural Research Institute, the research foundation of AmericanHort, is pleased to announce the release of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Bee Health in the Horticultural Industry.
BMPs are intended to inform horticultural professionals about the green industry’s impact on bee health. Through the use of BMP guidelines, horticulture can continue to play an important role in pollinator health.
January 23, 2017
From: The Country
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One of the co-authors of the study, Lincoln University Professor Stephen Wratten, from the Bio-Protection Research Centre, said it was well known that a global decline in insect pollinator populations posed a major threat to food and nutritional security.
“We’ve lost most of our wild bees in New Zealand to varroa mite, and cultivated bees are becoming resistant to varroa pesticides. Functioning beehives are becoming increasingly expensive for farmers to rent,” he said.
Read Complete Article
January 20, 2017
From: Beesource
By:
So I am no biologist, just a beekeeper, but I have been reading about the (relatively) new gene editing technology known as CRISPR. It seems that we may be on the verge of a genetics revolution that we’re just starting to understand.
Below is a link that discusses current plans to use CRISPR to eliminate Lyme disease on Nantucket Island. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/s…nantucket.html
It occurs to me that this could be the silver bullet that might also be the answer to varroa.
January 19, 2017
Editor’s Note: Europe’s ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments is an environmental catastrophe that harms the globe.
From: Farmers Weekly
The ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments is costing EU farmers more than £500m in lost revenue each year, a report has found.
The study, published by the EU’s Humboldt Forum for Food and Agriculture research consultancy, shows the ban has also shortened EU agricultural supply of OSR by 912,000t (-4%).
This production has been taken up in other parts of the world, such as the Americas, Ukraine and Australia where neonicotinoids banned in the UK and the EU remain widely used.
January 18, 2017
From: Morning AgClips
Finds most approved uses do not pose significant risks to bee colonies
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published preliminary pollinator-only risk assessments for the neonicotinoid insecticides clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran and also an update to its preliminary risk assessment for imidacloprid, which we published in January 2016. The updated imidacloprid assessment looks at potential risks to aquatic species, and identifies some risks for aquatic insects.
The assessments for clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran, similar to the preliminary pollinator assessment for imidacloprid showed: most approved uses do not pose significant risks to bee colonies.
January 17, 2017
From: Bloomberg/BNA
By Tiffany Stecker
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The Environmental Protection Agency finalized its policy on protecting honeybees from pesticide-spraying Jan. 12, placing restrictions on how farmers can use the pest-killers to avoid contact with bees used for pollination services. In these situations, farmers contract with beekeepers to rent hives in order to ensure bountiful crops of fruits, vegetables, legumes and other crops.
The final guidance is “more flexible and practical” than the proposal issued May 29, 2015, according to the announcement from the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs.
Read Complete Article
January 16, 2017
From: Pest Control Technology
The agency says its final Policy to Mitigate the Acute Risk to Bees from Pesticide Products is more flexible and practical than the proposed policy.
Applications of acutely toxic pesticides would be prohibited under certain conditions when bees are most likely to be present. While the restrictions focus on managed bees, EPA believes that these measures will also protect native bees and other pollinators that are in and around treatment areas. New label language will protect managed bees under contract to provide crop pollination services.
January 13, 2017
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