A View of the Underlying Problems Causing the Elimination of Honey Bees’

Honey Bees

What if the next time you go to the super market and you notice that the prices for coffee, apples, milk, and butter have shot up to the shocking price of $15. These products contain pollen and without honeybees this could be a reality. Studies have shown that since the 1990s Honey bees have slowly been becoming extinct. It wasn’t very noticible at first since they are so small and seem to be everywhere. Dr. Dennis VanEngelsdorp shares his theory in Markham Heid’s article by saying, “there are three “primary drivers” of honeybee loss: The varroa mite, pesticides and poor nutrition.” The varroa mites come from Europe and they jump in the bees and suck their blood and slowly weaken them and kill them off. The second thought is pesticides. Steve Ellis and Erich Pica defines one pesticide- “Neonicotinoids are used by farmers on about 140 different crops, including corn, canola and soy. But despite truth-twisting marketing from producers, there is little evidence that neonicotinoids actually improve yields. They do, however, kill bees by damaging their nervous systems, weakening their memories and impeding their ability to forage and fly.” The final theory that maybe causing bees to die off is poor nutrition. As time goes on we plow down wildlife areas and putting down pavement and grass. Bees need verity of different pollen for a healthy diet which they are no longer getting. Most beekeepers give their bees supplements to give them a healthy verity. “The USDA estimated that honeybees add more than $15 billion to the value of the country’s crops per year. ‘If losses continue at the 33 percent level, it could threaten the economic viability of the bee pollination industry,’ the department said. ‘Honey bees would not disappear entirely, but the cost of honey bee pollination services would rise, and those increased costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers through higher food costs,’” stated by Justin Moyer. By reading these articles I have learned that there are many things that contain pollen. Many products will go up in price if our honeybees keep die off this fast.