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Intro
ees provide many of the crops that we consume in our daily lives, from fruits like apples to nuts like almonds. However, lately, bee population has been declining significantly, one of the reasons being the pesticides that farmers use on their plants.
Provide honey
What do bees do?
Bees pollinate
Importance of Bees
What's happening?
Last year only, Bee informed partnership reported 42.1% bee population lost nationwide during April 2015 to April 2016. Bee informed Partnership noted that this was the second highest annual loss recorded to the date and that the number lost is far more than the acceptable loss. Pennsylvania's losses are at 60.6% , significantly higher than the national average. Bee population started to drop significantly since 2006 as, CCD, Colony collapse disorder (worker bees never returning back to their hives and the bee colony collapsing without them) appeared. Furthermore,In the recent years, there has been a huge loss over the summer period which experts such as Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Maryland and project director for the Bee Informed Partnership, find alarming as the bees are meant to be the healthiest in the summer.This year was the second year that summer loss rates rivaled winter loss rates and experts tell that actions must be taken before it worsens.
According to Bee informed partnership, pesticides take part in decreasing the bee population. Neonicotinoids, a type of systemic pesticide (injected in the seeds) , are especially toxic to bees as they contain chemicals similar to nicotine. Analysts had documented that there are more than 150 different chemical residues in the beehives, which we still don't know how they react to each other except that they are harmful. According to a study recently published in the journal "science", bees that have been poisoned by neonics (short for neonicotiniods) were 2-3 times more likely to die and the homing abilities of the bees were negatively affected. Some researchers claim that neonics are safe enough, but noting the sharp increase in demand for neonics in 2005, and appearence of CCD (worker bees never returning back to their homes) in 2006, it is difficult to say that neonics are harmless.
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ees have a symbiotic relationship with the producers, the ones that have flowers, and in the process of bees collecting nectar, bees pollinate the flowers. Bees are responsible for 80% of pollination worldwide, both wild and agricultural, and the value of their pollination is worth $3,251 a hectare. They certainly play an important role in the agricultural industries but furthermore, they also play a huge part in the wildlife. Because bees directly affect the producers, the lowest level in the energy pyramid, the effects of the decreased bee population affect all parts of the energy pyramid.
Many plants depend on bees to pollinate and they include: apples, blueberries, mustard, watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, pumpkin, zucchini, cranberry and etc. Organisms that eat these plants include: squirrels, birds, insects, deer, black bear etc.
Solutions
Toxic pesticide only after flowers die
Bees collect nectar from the flowers so it is inevitable that bees touch the plants during the flower season. When pesticides are applied, as bees drink nectar, they are affected by the pesticides that the plant's coated with. To prevent this, pesticides with toxicity to the bees should only be applied after the flowers die. Though some farmers think 'pesticides would wash off by the rain', surprisingly, it doesn't. As technology developed, to prevent pesticide washing off and contaminating the rivers, researchers made sure that pesticide doesn't just wash off by the rain, but rather when someone is scrubbing them with slightly salted water.
Before flowers die, use organic pesticides or relatively non toxic pesticides
During the period before flowers die, farmers should use organic pesticides or relatively non-toxic pesticides to protect their crop. These organic pesticides and relatively non-toxic pesticides won't harm the bees even if there are some residues from the use of pesticides. The list of relatively non-toxic pesticides are linked in the button above and the list of organic pesticides are linked below. Bacillus thuringiensis, an organic pesticide included in the link, is used in 90% of organic farming.
Petition the government to provide more funds/ promote organic food/ ban neonicotinoids
Because organic pesticides may not be as effective as pesticides with high toxicity and also because they tend to be more expensive, we demand the PA government to pay the organic pesticide companies in PA, lowering the prices of organic pesticides. According to research, when farming organically, there is 20% loss in the total number of crops produced compared to when using toxic pesticides. The 20% lost in dollars are in average $17300 per farms and that number multiplied by the number of farms in PA is $1,092,719,900, approximately $1,100,000,000. To compensate for such loss , we demand the PA state government to give 10% of this , $1,100,000,00 , to the pesticide company, making sure the organic pesticide price lowers. Along with this, we demand the government to promote organic food increasing the demand for organic foods in the market. Furthermore, we demand the government to ban neonicotinoids as they are proven to be extremely harmful to bees and because they are injected into the seeds, the pesticide remains for a longer period of time, possibly months.