Unfortunately, Congress in the US is moving ahead with a Farm Bill that would be disastrous for the environment, our health, and family farmers. The bills passed in each chamber will now make their way to a “conference committee” where secret negotiations to form a single bill will take place. However this also presents … More Ths US Farm Bill is a cause for concern
Humans have been exploiting bees as far back as the Stone Age, according to new research from the University of Bristol published in Nature today. Previous evidence from prehistoric rock art is inferred to show honey hunters and Pharaonic Egyptian murals show early scenes of beekeeping. However, the close association between early farmers and the honeybee … More Early farmers exploited beehive products at least 8,500 years ago
While pesticides and pathogens pose clear threats to honey bee health, the need of bee colonies for balanced nutrition is gaining increasing appreciation. As colonies are kept in agricultural areas for crop pollination, they may encounter nutritional deficits when foraging predominantly on one pollen source. In California almond orchards for instance, 1.6 million colonies are … More Bees diversify diet to take the sting out of nutritional deficiencies
The sudden disappearances of the previous decade have been dwarfed by other pollinator problems BY SUSAN MILIUS It was one of the flashiest mysteries in the news about a decade ago — honeybee workers were vanishing fast for no clear reason. To this day, that puzzle has never been entirely solved, researchers acknowledge. And maybe it never … More The mystery of vanishing honeybees is still not definitively solved
Scientists from the University of Würzburg have investigated the impact of a new pesticide on the honeybee. In high doses, it has a negative impact on the insects’ taste and cognition ability. In February 2018, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed that the pesticide group of neonicotinoids is harmful to bees. A novel pesticide … More Pesticides give bees a hard time
Patagonia may lose its only native bumblebee species due to invasions by alien bee species sanctioned by government policy. In a paper published today in Journal of Applied Ecology, Marcelo Aizen from the Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina, and colleagues from four countries draw attention to the severe conservation, economic and political consequences of intentional species … More Uncoordinated trade policies aid alien bee invasions
Scientists from the University of Würzburg have investigated the impact of a new pesticide on the honeybee. In high doses, it has a negative impact on the insects’ taste and cognition ability. In February 2018, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed that the pesticide group of neonicotinoids is harmful to bees. A novel pesticide … More The Impact of a New Pesticide on the Honeybee
