(Ten years ago)

Apiculture Research Will Save Honeybee And Pollination Industries,
Cornell Entomologists Predict
ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 1997) --  ITHACA, N.Y.

Despite dramatic losses in wild honeybees and in colonies maintained
by hobbyist beekeepers, Cornell University apiculturists say the
pollination needs of commercial agriculture in the United States are
being met -- for now -- by commercial beekeepers, although their
supplies are precarious.

Roger A. Morse, the recently retired Cornell professor of apiculture
who tracked the mites and diseases for 25 years, concurs.  "The mites
represent the greatest threat to beekeeping since European bees were
brought to this continent more than three centuries ago," Morse said.
"But if we can get the results of research to the beekeepers, we can
keep the crops growing and the honey flowing."

"It's true that these mite diseases have caused the death of 95 to 98
percent of the wild honeybee colonies.  And more than half the hobby
beekeepers have lost all or most of their colonies," Morse reported.
"However, commercial beekeepers in this country are surviving, though
they, too, have had serious losses."

"Growers who rent bees are well aware of the problems and are making
plans with beekeepers for the colonies they will need for next
spring's pollination," Morse said.  "At the same time, there continues
to be a great interest in hobby beekeeping, and hobbyists also are
learning to cope with mites and diseases by tapping into resources
like Cornell's apiculture extension program."

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