{"id":15537,"date":"2018-07-17T18:37:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T18:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/?p=15537"},"modified":"2018-07-17T18:40:28","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T18:40:28","slug":"for-beekeepers-the-new-normal-is-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/for-beekeepers-the-new-normal-is-unacceptable\/","title":{"rendered":"For beekeepers, the “new normal” is unacceptable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) published results from their annual <\/span>survey of managed honey bee colony losses<\/a> in the United States. With the combination of increased overall pathogen load, poor nutrition, habitat loss and pesticide exposure all contributing to bee declines, the results were \u2014 unsurprisingly \u2014 not comforting.<\/p>

But looking past the numbers for this year\u2019s survey, the way bee losses are measured and framed could use some serious improvement.<\/span><\/p>

Beyond winter losses<\/h3>

During the 2017-2018 winter, beekeepers reported losing an estimated 30.7% of managed colonies in the U.S. This is an increase of almost 10% from the previous year.<\/span><\/p>

Traditionally, measures of honey bee losses have focused on overwintering losses, but more and more beekeepers are seeing losses throughout the year. The BIP also asked about summer losses this year, and beekeepers reported losing 17.1% of of managed colonies from April 2017 – October 2017. For the entire year, beekeepers lost an estimated 40.1% of their colonies, 2.7% higher than the average annual rate of loss experienced since 2010.<\/span><\/p>

These numbers are likely higher than the survey reflects, however, because beekeepers have masked losses by dividing and subdividing colonies faster than ever before to make up for the losses.<\/span><\/p>

Not \u2018coming to terms\u2019<\/span><\/h3>

The survey also asked beekeepers about their rate of acceptable losses, and <\/span>some analysis<\/a> following the release of the results claimed that beekeepers were \u2018coming to terms\u2019 with the increased losses, as the level of acceptable losses climbed almost 2% from the previous year.<\/p>

But even if beekeepers self-report higher levels of acceptable losses, it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re content to accept this as a new baseline. Beekeeper Jeff Anderson from California Minnesota Honey Farms<\/span> shared his thoughts on this messaging.<\/p>

\u201cNO, beekeepers are NOT happy about the losses. I begrudgingly acknowledge the new norm.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>

Native bees in trouble too<\/span><\/h3>

In addition, the survey doesn\u2019t account for native or solitary bees, which also face threats of habitat loss and pesticide exposure. A <\/span>study from UC Davis<\/a> released in 2015 measured wild bee declines, suggesting populations likely declined in areas comprising 23% of the nation alongside the conversion of native bee habitat into intensive agriculture.<\/p>

But this study is the only reputable measure of native bee losses in recent years, and it was a one-time study. Wild bees are necessary for agricultural pollination needs, and as the study notes, the supply of managed honeybees hasn\u2019t kept pace with pollination demand due to the colony loss.<\/span><\/p>

Pollinators are in trouble, period. PAN will continue working alongside farmers and beekeepers to advocate for pollinator protection policies, and you can help too. Tell your governor to step up and take action to <\/span>protect pollinators in your state<\/a>, and then see what changes you can make in your own yard or garden to create a haven for honey bees<\/a> and other pollinators.<\/p>

Urge your Governor to protect bees!<\/a><\/p>

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month, the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) published results from their annual survey of managed honey bee colony losses in the United States. With the combination of increased overall pathogen load, poor nutrition, habitat loss and pesticide exposure all contributing to bee declines, the results…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}