Headline from The Independent
well the alarm bell are ringing high up the chain at last ... well the alternative is hand pollination and I have discussed that in previous posts.
I must say that here in the UK I haven't seen any reports of Colony Loss as seen in The USA and other countries. I personally believe that it is the result of intensive bee keeping and the transporting of huge quantities of bees from one area to another for very short pollination periods of about 3 weeks then packing them up and transporting them 1000s of miles to do the next crop. This is a disruptive process and the bees miss out on variety of nectar and pollen in the process. This is a very profitable business to a bee farmer who will receive about $200 a colony for his effort especially as they turn up with 1000 hives for 3 weeks and they will complete a few of these in a season.
Bee keeping is worth a lot of money to agriculture and the economy.
But there is something more than just profit in bee keeping ( I know as I have a huge cost and not one ounce of profit) there is a lot more love needed.
Is it time to have a re-think? I really think so!
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