Reports of vanishing honey have been known for quite some time now. In England this week from Lincolnshire, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Assembly Government outlined their proposals. The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said it had “no confidence” that enough extra money would be provided for research.
From troubled Virginia to the West coast of the United States, there is a concern that bees are vanishing. Researchers say CCD Colony Collapse Disorder is caused by a combination of factors, including parasitic mites, low-level pesticide exposure, viruses or other pathogens, Pettis said. The US government is spending up to USD$100 million over the next five years researching CCD. Across the USA, the number of commercial bee keepers is dwindling due to shrinking profits, according to Jeff Pettis, research leader at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bee Research Laboratory in Maryland.
The vanishingbees.com website blog reports CCD is currently killing approximately 30 per cent of beehives in the US every year and causing half the queen bees to supercede annually.
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