From: Financial Post
Special to Financial Post
From Beemageddon? As hysteria over honey bees recedes, anti-neonic narrative refocuses on wild bees,” July 16, 2015, by Jon Entine, executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project and senior fellow at the World Food Center Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy, University of California-Davis.
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The flood of recent studies challenging the “neonics kill bees” hypothesis may have delayed the release of the long-awaited White House Pollinator Task Force report, which activists thought might endorse a ban on neonicotinoids. But with commercial honeybee colonies stabilized and growing, the May report recommended a more measured approach, committing funds to increase pollinator habitats while ordering the EPA to review the effects of pesticides on pollinators over the next two years.
July 22, 2015
From: Radio New Zealand News
Bee scientists want beekeepers’ help in tracking a newly identified honey bee parasite that may be contributing to colony collapses
The gut parasite Lotmaria passim has been found in beehives on the Coromandel Peninsula and in the southern North Island.
Plant and Food Research’s bee unit head Mark Goodwin said its presence in New Zealand was only confirmed a few months ago.
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“There’s a paper that was published about six months or so [ago] in Belgium, where they linked this organism, Lotmaria, with Nosema ceranae – another new gut parasite – as being contributing [to], or at least the cause, of colony collapse disorder.
July 21, 2015
Editor’s Note: The Horticultural Research Institute’s pollinator website is here.
From: Floral Daily
A website that will help guide industry members’ efforts to safeguard pollinators launched last week. The interactive site includes new materials and information available to any industry member who wants to show how the plants and flowers grown by the floral industry contribute to bee and other pollinator health, said Lin Schmale, SAF’s senior director of government relations.
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July 20, 2015
From: Farmers Weekly (UK)
Farm leaders have submitted a second request to Defra for growers to use neonicotinoid-treated oilseed rape seed this autumn – after their first application was rejected.
The NFU said its application was for the emergency use of neonicotinoid seed treatments in areas under the very highest threat of flea beetle damage for autumn drilling.
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“Without this treatment, growing one of the most important crops in the UK sustainably is becoming nearly impossible for many farmers,” said Mr Hambly.
Read Complete Article
July 17, 2015
From: The Huffington Post | Green
Jon Entine
Like the fictional parents in the edgy comedy show South Park who blame Canada for all of their woes, environmentals often coalesce around an issue and then come up with a simple but sometimes simplistic narrative to anchor their advocacy.
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A joint report by the Agriculture Department and the EPA issued two years ago concluded that pesticides while a minor contributor were way down the list of likely causes. They cited as the primary drivers: colony management, viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, genetics and habitat loss. By far the biggest culprit–the report called it “the single most detrimental pest of honeybees”–was identified as the parasitic mite varroa destructor–which along with Nosema parasite are considered the leading threats to bee health.
July 16, 2015
From: The Crimson White
A University of Alabama biologist has recently received a $1 million grant to do research on bumblebees.
Jeff Lozier, an assistant professor of biological sciences, along with two collaborators from the University of Wyoming and Utah State, received the grant from the National Science Foundation to study two specific species of bumblebees and their adaptation to a changing environment.
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The grant took effect in April 2015, but preliminary work for the research has been ongoing for the past two years. The grant is expected to fund three years of work and experiments.
July 16, 2015
From: AgriNews
By Candice Vetter – AgriNews Staff Writer
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“The Ontario government’s rush to regulate treated seed, without scientific basis, is dividing rural Ontario and further exacerbating the rural-urban divide. At the same time, agenda-driven, political appointees are fracturing rural relationships,” says the press release, quoting GFO chair Mark Brock.
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Brock then says beekeepers readily admit that poor hive management (starvation, weak colonies, fungal infections and mite infestations) and weather are likely to blame for bee mortalities.
Read Complete Article
July 14, 2015
From: Farmers Forum
TORONTO — The province received 23,145 public comments on its proposal to ban neonicotinoid seeds during its 45-day period in the spring. While 90 per cent of those comments favouring the ban were being written, farm country was busy planting their food.
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Beekeeper backs farmers
July 13, 2015
From: Pacific News Center
Written by Clynt Ridgell
Varroa Mite Only Found on Feral Honey Bees
Guam – Earlier this week PNC brought you the story of the Varroa mite a tiny parasitic bug that is attacking the island’s bee population. Today we interviewed the man who first discovered the Varrao mite UOG biology undergrad Chris Rosario and Rosario tells us the good news is there is something we can do to get rid of the Varroa mite.
July 10, 2015
From: Citizen-Times
BOONE – Tracking the health of honeybees across the U.S. is the work of a multi-university team, including a computer scientist at Appalachian State University.
The Bee Informed Partnership, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is comprised of scientists from eight universities, including the University of Maryland, Oregon State University, the University of Tennessee and Appalachian. The partnership members are also beekeepers.
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For instance, the data collected since the project began indicate that beekeepers who treat their bees for the varroa mite experience fewer losses than beekeepers who don’t treat for the parasite.
July 8, 2015
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