About the beekeeper plaintiffs from:  http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/2016-1-6-Dkt-1-Pls-Complaint.pdf

Beekeeper Plaintiffs 

11. 
Plaintiff Jeff Anderson has been the owner of California Minnesota Honey Farms for nineteen years. It is a migratory beekeeping operation based in Eagle Bend; Minnesota; and Oakdale, California. In addition to Mr. Anderson, the business employs one full-time employee, as well as three seasonal employees. He has been a commercial beekeeper since 1976. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Minnesota Honey Producers Association, the California State Beekeepers Association, the American Honey Producers Association, the National Honey Bee Advisory Board, and the Pollinator Stewardship Council. Since about 2004-05, his percentage of hives lost each year has increased dramatically. In 2012, for example, he had 3,150 hives in April, but by February 2013, he was down to just 998 hives, meaning he lost almost 70% of hives that year. Not only is Mr. Anderson losing hives at rates that are unprecedented, but remaining hives are far less robust. It is plain from recent years that he is getting significant summer mortality—a time when bee populations should be healthy due to warm weather, long days, and food abundance—from the dominant Minnesota crops: corn and soybeans. It is virtually impossible for honey bees to avoid these crops in central Minnesota; nearly all of them are seed-treated with a combination of two neonicotinoid pesticides, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. There are other consequences of this hive health pattern which adversely affect his business and livelihood. First, sick or poorly-populated hives cannot produce much honey. This is apparent when observing his annual honey production records. Prior to 2005, he would expect to harvest an average eighty pounds of honey per live hive annually. In recent seasons, Mr. Anderson’s hives have averaged only about forty pounds of honey. His income has drastically suffered as a result and his expenses to keep his remaining hives alive have dramatically increased. The workload and personal stress are intense. His experience and observations are that the exempted neonicotinoid seed coatings, toxic dust, and other contamination from them have played a major role. Test results for some incidents confirm this.  

12. Plaintiff Bret Adee is a resident of Bruce, South Dakota. He is a third-generation commercial beekeeper and a co-owner of Adee Honey Farms. Founded in 1957, Adee Honey Farms is the nation’s largest beekeeping operation. It manages some 90,000 honey bee colonies and has about fifty full-time employees. Its operations have been harmed over several years by the neonicotinoid seed coatings. The colonies, in many cases, cannot be placed so that the free-ranging bees will be able to avoid contaminated crops, dust, soil, marginal vegetation, and water that results from the seed coatings, which are overused. Adee Honey Farms has experienced abnormally high incidences of hive failure in recent years. Prior to 2005, they would expect to lose between 3-8% of their colonies over the winter. Now, they consider it a good year if they lose only 20%. In 2012, for example, they lost 42% of their hives over winter, but by the time they came around to pollinate almonds in the early spring, their losses were at 55%. For the summer of 2015, the Adees had a massive exposure to clothianidin dust-off that resulted in an estimated 10,000 severely weakened honey bee colonies. The results to the company include lost income, increased expenses and work overload, and emotional distress from seeing their animals killed or weakened. Mr. Adee and his family fear for the future of their business—and commercial beekeeping in general—if the current overuse of neonicotinoids and other pesticides continues. Mr. Adee is the President of the Pollinator Stewardship Council and co-Chair of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board. He also is a member of the American Honey Producers Association, the South Dakota Beekeepers Association, and the California State Beekeepers Association. 

13. Plaintiff David Hackenberg is a commercial beekeeper residing in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He has been keeping bees for fifty-two years, through his family business Hackenberg Apiaries. His experience includes serving twelve years on the National Honey Board, has served as President of the American Beekeeping Federation, and as Chair and co-Chair of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees have damaged his operation. In 2006, he saw huge losses and was the first beekeeper known to suffer what was described by scientists as Colony Collapse Disorder. These disappearances coincided with the exempted neonicotinoid pesticidal seeds coming on the market in large numbers. This damage at least partly resulted from the use of neonicotinoid seed coatings in row crops nationwide. This is compounded by the lack of labels on the seed bags adequate to inform the crop farmers how to avoid harm to bees, and the lack of any enforcement when bees are harmed by these seed coating. Mr. Hackenberg has about 2,000 hives now. His annual losses have run 75-80%, or with continual protein feeding, they can be held closer to 60% losses, but both these levels are excessive. The economic damage to his business, increased expenses and work demand, and personal stress from seeing huge numbers of his bees die have all directly harmed him. His experience and direct observations are that the seed coatings, dust, and other contamination from them have played a major role.

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