Bees pollinate 75% of fruit in the U.S., but this winter’s mysterious mass die-off raises alarm

Hundreds of Millions of Bees Die in ‘Worst Ever’ Loss Over the Past 8 Months…Climate Crisis? Habitat Change? Cause Unknown,

Bee
[AFP=Yonhap News],

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Doyeon = The U.S. beekeeping industry faces a major crisis as hundreds of millions of bees have died over the past 8 months, according to reports from CBS News and the British Guardian on the 29th (local time).

A survey conducted by the U.S. nonprofit organization Project Apis M, which is related to beekeeping, showed that an average of 62% of bee colonies decreased last winter among 702 U.S. beekeepers surveyed.

The honeybees raised by the surveyed beekeepers represent about 68% of the total in the U.S., equivalent to 1,835,000 colonies.

Large-scale beekeeper Blake Shook discovered tens of thousands of dead bees in his apiary, stating that he has never seen such large-scale bee deaths before.

He added, “The data shows that this is the worst bee death event in history.”

Large-scale bee deaths can adversely affect not just the beekeeping industry but agriculture as a whole.

Beyond simply producing honey, bees play a role in pollinating 75% of fruits, nuts, and vegetables grown in the U.S.

For example, bees can help produce 900 to 1,360 kg of almonds per acre (4,046 m²) through pollination, but without bees, the yield is only 90 kg per acre.

Shook pointed out that if bee deaths continue, “the way Americans consume food will change,” and “if we lose 80% of our bees annually, the beekeeping industry won’t survive, and we won’t be able to pollinate on the scale needed for food production in the U.S.”

He added that “this is not just a problem for beekeepers but a national food security issue.”

Multiple hypotheses have been suggested as the cause of bee deaths, but nothing has been conclusively identified.

Scientists suspect that factors such as the climate crisis, habitat loss for bees, and pesticide use have negatively impacted bees.

Juliana Rangel, an entomology professor at Texas A&M University, said potential factors include bee habitats and climate trends, but a definitive answer is still lacking.

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