Record high winter bee loss isn’t surprising to some. The Bee Informed Partnership national survey on bee health showed a nearly 38 percent bee loss this last winter. “The historic losses of 15 percent that we used to experienced 50 years ago, no one is ever expecting losses that low but losses this high is alarming,” Project Apis m. Director of Pollinator Programs Billy Synk said. “It’s a concern for everyone. Beekeeper, grower and anyone who likes to eat food, which is all of us.”
One of the nation’s top bee researchers, Maryland University’s Dennis vanEngelsdorp, accredited a lot of the increased loss to less effectiveness of insecticides on varroa mites. Synk said the survey results weren’t surprising after listening to a vanEngelsdorp talk late last year.
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