Honeybees, necessary for a healthy planet, pollinate countless species of plants, including the crops people and livestock eat.
When whole colonies began disappearing — leaving just the queen and a few bees — it sent a shock to agricultural experts, farmers, researchers and others around the world.
Bob Gaddis, a Lenoir County beekeeper and past president of the Neuse Regional Beekeepers Association, began to notice the trend with his own colonies.
At one time he had 26 beehives, but they dwindled down to three in 2010. Today, he has 12, simply due to better management.
Diminishing colonies may be due to what’s called colony collapse disorder, first noted when a Pennsylvania beekeeper noticed his bee colonies disappearing, despite the hives having food and brood, Gaddis said.
It’s ongoing and, in fact, it may be getting somewhat worse,” Bob Gaddis said. “Nationally, the bees are losing about 30 percent of the bee crop every year.”
Numerous theories emerged, but no definitive solutions. However, much research is being done and it’s suspected the answer is complex.
“Probably the biggest factors are pesticides and genetics, the pests that bees have today and the loss of environment,” he said. “And those are pretty broad areas.”
Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and treated seeds could be factors. For example, a limited number of bees may carry back to the hive the chemicals used to kill earworms that feed on corn from treated seed, Gaddis said.
Certain kinds of mites infest brood combs, suck the life out of bees in the pupa stage and cause numerous viruses, to which bees were not susceptible before, he said.
Bees are bred and purchased by local beekeepers in the spring, mostly from breeders in Georgia and Florida.
“(Because of) the supply and the demand for bees the breeders just breed constantly, and there’s just not that much genetic variability in those bee yards,” Gaddis said.
Using the same queens over and over is another detrimental factor because that breeds in weak characteristics, he said.
“As these bees are challenged by these diseases they just don’t have the immune systems to support the defense. That’s one problem,” he said.
Over time, more disease-free and pest-free bee colonies around the world are turning up with the same problems, so it’s getting more difficult, as well as costly, to purchase non-susceptible bees.
Bees from different climates are not going to be acclimated to Eastern North Carolina, Gaddis said.
“We’re being encouraged now, as a part of an integrated pest management, to breed our queens locally,” he said.
Gaddis concentrates his efforts in breeding the healthiest of his bees.
“I’m trying, in my little small world, to breed a stronger breed,” he said.
There are fewer beekeepers nationally as many are aging out, Gaddis said.
Beekeepers also aren’t as common now at larger farms.
“Our agriculture changed from the family farm diversified agriculture to these monoculture corporate farms,” Gaddis said. “The opportunities for beekeeping just dwindled.”
Migratory beekeepers carry loads of hives north, renting out their bees to large-operation farms to pollinate the crops along the way.
“If it wasn’t for our migratory beekeepers,” Gaddis said, “you’d really be in trouble because they’re trucking thousands and thousands of bees.”
The numbers of beekeepers are higher in North Carolina than its neighboring states.
The local bee club, which has members in Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties, has about 50 members. Once encompassing several counties, it has grown and branched off into separate clubs.
“The North Carolina State Beekeepers Association is probably 3,000 members strong now, and it’s the largest and oldest state association in the country. It’s been going since 1917.”
Still, there aren’t enough bees in the state to pollinate all the crops, Gaddis said.
“We’re probably at least 10,000 hives short of having enough to pollinate all our crops that need to be pollinated,” he said.
The fact that so much produce is trucked into the state indicates that North Carolina could produce more. Locally, the main produce that is pollinated by bees includes watermelons, cucumbers, squash, blueberries and strawberries, Gaddis said.
“Bees are responsible for one-third of every mouthful of food Americans eat,” he said.
The disappearing bee problem will take more research, public awareness and good bee management for a sweet solution.
“Until they can identify a cause, a specific cause it’s hard to pin down a cure for a syndrome,” he said.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.