A recent surge in bee losses is now impacting Texas beekeepers and may ultimately impact the price to produce.
Since June, commercial beekeepers in Texas have lost nearly two-thirds of their bee colonies.
Nationwide, those financial losses have totaled $635 million. Many now worry it will have a trickle-down effect on fruits and vegetables like watermelons and berries.
While no clear cause for the losses has been pinpointed, mites, pathogens, pesticides, and poor nutrition among bees would all play a role.
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His department will be using a synthetic bait called “Swormlure Five,” which is engineered to smell like an open wound, attracting Screwworm flies to the bait
“We see the opportunity of streamlining the program.”
NCGA estimates that without pesticide use, crop yields could decline by at least 70%.
