Following the conversation fueled by the press, and questions raised:
1) 1/3 of our diet pollinated by insects. That stat is from S.E.
McGregor's book. I had several conversations with him before he retired, and he
unfortunately didn't live long after.
Keep in mind, he based his 1/3 estimate on the broadest interpretation
possible - so crops like alfalfa and clover are included, since bees pollinate
these hay crops, cattle eat the hay, we eat the cattle.
Using that standard, his estimate by today's standards is conservative,
since we have a much broader selection of fresh produce in our grocery stores
- vegetables, fruits, and nuts that were not grown in the U.S. during his
lifetime, or at least, not in any quantity. Most of these require bees to
pollinate.
The U.S. consumer wants food diversity, and there's some appreciation of
the benefits of shifting away from a diet of meat and potatoes towards one
with more fruits and vegetables.
2) Since his time, our food comes to us from many different sources,
especially from far away places. For example, Juanese's country, Chile has an
ever increasing role as a supplier of produce during our winter. McGregor
probably never imagined that he'd ever see fresh produce from Chile in U.S.
stores.
3) I don't have stats on what proportion of our food now comes from other
countries, but it has to be significant - its no longer just things like
bananas.
4) Bee loss problems like CCD can have a huge effect on the specific
beekeeper whose bees suffer from it, but fortunately, the outbreaks have been
patchy, so while one beekeeper may lose 80-90% of his/her bees, the next may
have had an exceptionally good year.
5) The big commercial pollinators often pull together in a crunch. I saw
this in the collapse of 2006-2007 and again this winter. Whereas some
capitalize on the loss to make money, many help each other out - so this year in
CA, I saw large commercial beekeepers working together to cover losses,
providing colonies to help out those who couldn't meet contracts, and
beekeepers advising growers that they would provide 80-85% of the desired number
of colonies, so that none of their growers was left without bees.
6) When the first collapse hit in 2006-2007, I had Wall Street guys
calling, trying to assess what was going to happen in the future with respect to
food supplies. I predicted that the impact would be minimal in the short
term.
7) That ignores the fact that the U.S. is down to about 1/4 the number of
colonies of not too many years ago, and accepted losses have gone from 10%
overwintering to 30% and even as high as 50%.
- but, remember, the big reduction is not from bee losses, but from
loss of beekeepers - its hard work, doesn't pay all that well,
- and adding significant yearly losses makes this even less desirable
as a career choice.
8) However, the good news is that CCD has spun off a renewed interest in
bees by the public, and an upswing in the numbers of hobby and small scale
beekeepers.
9) Worst case scenario:
Prices for pollinator rentals will continue to increase, if bee supply
numbers remain static or decline,
Some growers wont' find bees when they need them, or not as many as they
want.
Growers will continue to try to find plant varieties that don't need
insects for pollination, and if they succeed, that is likely to reduce the need
for bees, and further decrease the size of the U.S. beekeeping industry.
We'll see more of our fresh produce being imported from other countries.
10) Which brings me to my main concern - do we really want to end up being
dependent on other countries for the bulk of our insect-pollinated food
(fruits, nuts, vegetables)? We've seen what happens with fossil fuels.
Jerry
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L
|
