U.S. beekeepers lost more than half of the managed bee colonies last year, but there is debate over the cause, with some placing blame on pesticides.
However, that blame may be misplaced.
“This is not to say that pesticides don’t have an impact on bees and can’t kill bees. They do, but the USDA does surveys every year and they find, they ask, you know, beekeepers why did your hives die? And pesticides is not zero, but it’s down on the list,” according to Todd Myers.
He says that if pesticides were the lead cause, farmers would just be shooting themselves in the foot. He notes that farmers reliant on bees are typically the most careful.
“You know, it’s farmers who are the ones who get accused of using the pesticides that kill bees, when in fact, it’s the farmers who are probably the most careful and most knowledgeable about how not to kill bees,” Myers adds. “What is killing bees, and if you talk to any beekeeper— you ask them, ‘What’s the number one thing that’s killing your bees?’ They will all give you the exact same answer and that is a mite called the varroa mite, which is an invasive mite from southeast Asia.”
Mites are considered one of the honey bees greatest threats. They inflict more damage and higher economic costs than all other diseases and pests.
