Bees face many challenges — as our 2007 First Place 4-H Essay Winner, Kenton Shockley, indicated in his essay
The long-term trend in the United States is fewer colonies of bees and smaller honey crops.
In the last twenty years the number of colonies in the United States has gone from about seven million to little more than two million. [5] Some of this loss could be due to increasing U.S honey imports from other countries, mainly China and Argentina. [6] But that isn’t the total reason… Among the reasons for this decline could be the cultivation of large monocultures, the use of herbicides and pesticides, loss of plant diversity and the increase of diseases and parasites. [7] Worthy of exploration are two other factors and these have to do with contemporary beekeeping practices. Something could be wrong with the standard practices.
As you can see above, challenges from varroa mites to irresponsible use of herbicides and pesticides face the humble but important, hard-working honey bee. The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees endeavors to support research, education, improvements and advancements in honey bee culture to help alleviate the problems that honey bees everywhere face.
[5] Hauk, Gunther. Toward Saving The Honey Bee. Biodynamic Farming And Gardening Association, San Francisco, 2002.
[6] Steiner, Rudolf. Bees Translated By Braatz, Thomas. , New York, 1998.
[7] American Beekeeping Federation. 2007 4-H essay contest. Accessed, 2007-01-26.