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They are among America's busiest workers but they've been declining sharply in recent years due to various factors, including pesticides, mite infestations and loss of genetic diversity. Now Faith Karimi writes at CNN that President Obama has created a task force to address the issue of rapidly diminishing honey bees and other pollinators. "The problem is serious and requires immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food production systems, avoid additional economic impact on the agricultural sector, and protect the health of the environment," Obama said in a memo was sent to Cabinet secretaries and agency heads.
Friends of the Earth says that the US needs to immediately ban the use of neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides chemically similar to nicotine that has been linked to bee deaths. "The administration should prevent the release and use of these toxic pesticides until determined safe," says Erich Pica whose organization is conducting a campaign and has collected more than half a million petition signatures asking Home Depot and Lowe's to stop selling plants treated with neonicotinoids (neonics). So why isn't the US moving more quickly to ban neonics? Neonics play "a major role in pest management for pest control, agriculture and the ornamental plant protection industries. They serve as a group of highly effective insecticides with low risk to people and birds, which can be applied systemically to the soil," notes a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension blogger. This is a safer, better pesticide than many alternatives.
Another reason to hold off on a ban: There are still doubts that neonics are the principal cause of bee colony collapse. "In other words, while neonics might be one of the precipitating causes, they might not be the principle cause of colony collapse disorder (CCD) in the US and Europe," says David Clark Scott. "Saving the honey bees may require a more complex solution than banning one group of insecticides. And it may require more investigation into other possible causes of CCD, including parasites, viruses, climate change, bee nutrition, lack of genetic diversity and bee keeping practices."
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday June 24 2014, @03:49AM
I'd guess that Alfalfa is also an important crop in Montana, whether for cash or for the ranchers to feed their cattle and of course Alfalfa is pollinated by bees. Makes good honey as well.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday June 24 2014, @04:17AM
It's getting to be more grass than alfalfa, far as I see in the fields and as hay for sale (likely a matter of the spike in energy prices making water expensive to pump -- alfalfa needs irrigation here). And there are all sorts of bugs that live on alfalfa and crawl into the blossoms. But more to the point, alfalfa isn't generally grown for seed, so outside of those few who do produce seed, no one cares if it "sets a crop".
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday June 24 2014, @05:58AM
Good point about not needing seed.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday June 24 2014, @01:42PM
A specialty crop, being the seeds are tiny, and you can't exactly process 'em with a baler. Now that you mention it I'll have to look into that... it sets seeds randomly from first bloom til hard frost. They don't even mature at the same pace within a single flower head.
The primary insects I see on alfalfa blooms are a very small black bee and one that looks like a tiny black earwig, both very plentiful in hot weather.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by dry on Thursday June 26 2014, @04:29AM
50 million kilos of alfalfa seed a year are produced in N. America so not that much of a specialty crop. Seems that alfalfa leaf miner bees were domesticated mostly for pollinating alfalfa, at least here in Canada and I'd guess the small bees you see are also a species of leaf miner bee. There are a lot of leaf miner bee species.
(Score: 2) by caseih on Tuesday June 24 2014, @05:29AM
Except for seed production, most Alfalfa is cut for forage. The alfalfa that is for seed production is pollinated with bees brought in, rather than rely on local populations. Some honey bees, mostly leaf-cutter bees, just as with hybrid canola seed.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday June 24 2014, @06:02AM
They bring in leaf cutter bees? Most Alfalfa fields I've seen have been full of honey bees. That was 30+ years ago and before the current bee problems
(Score: 2) by caseih on Thursday June 26 2014, @01:49AM
Mostly leaf-cutters these days. A whole industry here has sprung up mainly for canola seed production. But I understand they do use them for alfalfa quite a bit. Might have to try some alfalfa seed production sometime. It's a lot easier these days with top-kill herbicide. Instead of swathing, and then worrying about the windrows blowing away, we can spray Reglone and then combine it straight a week later. All without killing the alfalfa.
(Score: 2) by dry on Thursday June 26 2014, @04:23AM
Interesting how the domestic leaf miners are handled and seems that they were mostly domesticated for Alfalfa seed production, at least here in Canada, http://www.seeds.ca/proj/poll/index.php?n=Leafcutter+Bees [seeds.ca] and between the States and Canada we produce 50 million kilos a year of alfalfa seed.
Never realized that desiccants such as Reglone were used so much in agriculture, hadn't even heard of it, I was at time a registered pesticide applicator (forestry) so familiar with many herbicides.
(Score: 2) by caseih on Monday June 30 2014, @01:21AM
Yes. We use reglone to desiccate peas, beans, and sometimes Canola. And alfalfa seed, I understand. It works faster than RoundUp and leaves no residue, which is important for markets that have a zero tolerance for RoundUp residue on food. It's more than double the cost of RoundUp per acre but works well. I believe Reglone is used extensively in potatoes as well, to kill off the vines at harvest time to prevent the tubers from continuing to grow, while at the same time making sure they stay alive, which RoundUp wouldn't do. It's safer than roundup too, since a little herbicide drift won't kill established grasses, alfalfas, and trees.