I believe it was Albert Einstein that
said that “if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man
would have only four years to live”.
Basically his theory makes a lot of
sense.
No Bees, No Pollination!
There is no question the bees are
becoming extinct. Ask any “beekeeper” and they’ll tell you the same.
I
know there have been attempts at “alternative” Pollination but none have
ever been successful. Only the Bees can do what GOD designed them to
do.
Well for the last 7 years the bees worldwide have been disappearing and no one really knows why.
The disorder has significantly affected bee populations since the 1970′s with a sharp increase in losses since 2006. Now, as beekeepers return to their hives to prepare for spring pollination, they are finding that at least half of their bees are gone.
This syndrome, named colony collapse disorder, or CCD, is characterized by the disappearance of adult honey bees from the hive, leaving the newborns to fend for themselves.
The 2013 year now marks the highest loss on record with at least 50 percent of all European honeybees in the U.S. reported lost to CCD.
Honey bees are of vital importance, and
their declining populations are an incredibly critical issue.
As pollinators, they are responsible for over 130 different fruit and vegetable crops that we eat.
As they travel from blossom to blossom in search of nectar, pollen sticks to their furry body and is transferred to another flowering blossom enabling it to swell into a ripened fruit.
Animal pollination is essential for nuts, melons and berries, and plays varying roles in citrus fruits, apples, onions, broccoli, cabbage, sprouts, courgettes, peppers, aubergines, avocados, cucumbers, coconuts, tomatoes and broad beans, as well as coffee and cocoa.
As pollinators, they are responsible for over 130 different fruit and vegetable crops that we eat.
As they travel from blossom to blossom in search of nectar, pollen sticks to their furry body and is transferred to another flowering blossom enabling it to swell into a ripened fruit.
Animal pollination is essential for nuts, melons and berries, and plays varying roles in citrus fruits, apples, onions, broccoli, cabbage, sprouts, courgettes, peppers, aubergines, avocados, cucumbers, coconuts, tomatoes and broad beans, as well as coffee and cocoa.
Just what’s killing the
bees remains a mystery but beekeepers are beside themselves, often
approaching their hives to find hundreds of worker bees dying outside
the hives each day.
As the bees die, farmers lose the ability to
pollinate crops, reducing yields and thereby the food supply.
Farmers
are now projecting that the decrease in the supply of fruits and
vegetables will be so great that prices will be impacted by the summer
of this year.
A number of beekeepers blame pesticides for the loss of
their bees, specifically as class known as neonicotinoids.
Neonicotinoids are a form of pesticide that work by blocking the nerve
endings in insects, paralyzing them so that they die slowly by
starvation. Beekeepers think their bees are being exposed to the
pesticides and are dying as a result.
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