Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-08-31)

68

ILLUSTRATION

BY

GEORGE

WYLESOL.

DATA:

U.S.

DEPARTMENT

OF

AGRICULTURE

Since hitting a low point in 2008, beset by the

apocalyptic-soundingcolonycollapsedisorder,America’s

honeybeeshavebeenonthecomebacktrail.Thenum-

berofcoloniestheU.S.DepartmentofAgriculturecounts

isbackuptoalmost3 million,a levellastseeninthe

early1990s.

BeekeepersintheU.S.continuetoloseabout40%of

theircoloniesannually,though,accordingtothenonprofit

BeeInformedPartnership.Itssurveys,whichdateto2006,

don’tshowa cleartrend,butresearchershaveestimated

that yearly lossesbefore 2000 weremuchlower.Colony

numbers canstillriseinthefaceofsuchlosses,becauseit

takes only acoupleofmonthstogetoneupandrunning,

but all does notseemwellwiththebees.

Most losseslastwinterwereattributednottocolony

collapse disorderbuttomoremundanecausessuchas

starvation andpests.Honeybeesseemtohavebecome

generally morevulnerable,withtwooft-fingeredculprits

being the varroamite,a parasiteoriginallyfromAsiathat

first appearedintheU.S.inthelate1980s,andthewide-

spreaduseofneonicotinoidpesticidesbyU.S.farmers

startinginthelate1990s.

Thetroublesofthehoneybee,a domesticatedspecies

not native totheU.S.,havebeenlinkedtoconcerns

about droppinginsectnumbersworldwide.Butit’snot

clear that insectsingeneralareonthedeclineinNorth

America.Ajust-publishedsurveyofdatagatheredat

25 monitoringstationsaroundtheU.S.startingaslongago

as 1976 foundinsectpopulationchangestobe“generally

indistinguishablefromzero.”<BW>Foxisa columnistfor

Bloomberg Opinion

◼ LAST THING

●SOURTASTE

TheUSDAcounted

a record5.9million

honeybeecolonies

in 1947,withthat

numberfallingto

a littlemorethan

3 millionbythe

mid-1980sin the

faceofcompetition

fromimported

honeyandother

sweeteners.

With Bloomberg Opinion

●LIFECYCLE

U.S.beekeepers

reportedrevenueof

$309.6m

frompollination

servicesin 2019,and

$309.1millionfrom

honey,a bigchange

frompastdecades,

whenhoneywasthe

chiefmoneymaker.

● NUTS

Most pollination revenue—79% in 2017—comes

in February and March, when bee-dependent

almond trees bloom in California’s Central Valley.

● BAD NEWS

BUMBLE

A 2013 study found

that most native bee

species in the U.S.

had experienced

only modest

declines over the

previous 140 years,

but that bumblebee

populations had

declined steeply.

By Justin Fox

Don’t Call It a Honeybee

Comeback Yet

Bloomberg

Businessweek

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August

31,

2020

(ISSN

0007-7135)

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● U.S. honeybee colonies

2008

1987 2020

3.6m

3.0

2.4